Uninvited
by jenorama
Summary: Settled in San Francisco with a growing family, Harry and Ginny come face-to-face with Harry's Auror past.
1. Chapter 1

"Allie! Allie!" James shouted, running towards us with a feather clutched in his hand. I intercepted him before he could crash into the pram that held his infant brother, sweeping him up into my arms and plucking the somewhat raggedy feather from his fist.

"Oh, it's beautiful, love! I'll keep it safe in my pocket, all right?" I made a show of carefully putting the sad thing in my jacket pocket, James watching carefully the whole time. I set him back down on the ground and he patted the spot where the feather hid, hazel eyes serious.

"Keep safe," he admonished before charging off to find another treasure. He took his treasures seriously, insisting on showing Harry what he'd found when we got home. One time I'd thrown away a receipt he'd found before he could show it off and he'd been inconsolable until we put him in the bath.

I checked on Allie in the pram, making sure he was still wrapped up. Late October in San Francisco could be unpredictable and he was a squirmer, somehow managing to get out of the most secure swaddling we could devise. His arms were flung above his head, but he was still covered and asleep. I was really looking forward to when the two of them could run around together.

Making sure that James was still in the sandbox, I reached into the pram and took out a thick manila folder of papers. After being a stay-at-home mum for the last few years, I'd begun feeling the itch to go back to work. Vijay at SF Thaumaturgical had practically jumped at the opportunity to have me start working for him, even on a part-time basis.

Today I had some papers to review on the efficacy of magically-charmed acupuncture needles and before too long, I was completely engrossed. I had anchored a Proximity Charm between the frog on the front of James's overalls and my tattoo, so I wasn't worried about him getting too far away from me. Unlike some other children, he wasn't apt to take off his clothes in public and run around like a miniature streaker.

I was about halfway through my file when I felt a tingle in my tattoo and I looked up, searching for James's dark hair. I found him playing with another little boy in the sandbox. They were apparently in a hole-digging competition and having a brisk conversation about it. "Which one is yours?" a voice next to me said, startling me so I nearly dropped my papers.

I turned to see an old man wrapped in a brightly-colored blanket sitting next to me on the bench. His white hair was in two neat braids, a startling contrast to his dark, mahogany-colored skin. "Oh, you surprised me! He's the little dark-haired one over there," I said, gesturing to where James was now industriously filling in the hole he'd dug.

"Handsome boy. And another one?" he asked, peering into the pram. Allie had woken up and looked back at him, his big green eyes curious. The man reached in, dangling a strip of leather with some beads strung on it for Allie to grab at. I kept a sharp eye on him, my hand already on my wand in case he tried anything strange. A moment later, he handed me the bit of leather. "Keep it. He likes it."

"Thank you. Can I give you anything for it?" I asked, tucking it in my pocket with James's feather. I looked down, noticing that his feet were bare, but they seemed to be in fine shape and he looked clean and well-kept. I wondered if he had a place to stay.

"No, I don't need anything at the moment, thank you." He wrapped his blanket more tightly around himself as the sun went behind a cloud, seeming content to sit on my bench and watch the children play. It occurred to me that I should find his presence strange, but I felt nothing of the sort and the thought gave me pause.

 _Should I Summon Harry? He's just an old man here at the park. I'm a witch and I can have me and the boys back at home in two seconds._ I dismissed my thoughts as motherly paranoia and checked on Allie again in the pram. Now that there was no fun strip of leather being dandled in front of him, he'd gone back to sleep. James was still engaged in the sandbox, so I went back to my papers, resolving to read for only another fifteen minutes.

"What do you have there?" the old man said, holding a hand out as James toddled up to him, a rock held in his outstretched hand. I'd nearly forgotten about him and watched as James gravely handed him the rock and waited while he examined it. "Quartz. Very nice," the old man said, looking at my son with a serious expression. "This is a good rock to keep around. You never know when you'll need a good rock." He handed it back to him and James gave him a brilliant smile, the corner of his mouth curving up the exact same way Harry's did.

"Mum! Rock!" James crowed, handing it to me. I looked at it, making a show of admiring it for him, but it really was quite pretty; nearly perfectly round and clear except for a cloudy whiteness at the center.

"Oh, James this is beautiful. Daddy will love it!" I exclaimed, putting it in my pocket with the other treasures of the day.

"Daddy!" he shouted, lifting his arms toward me. I picked him up, holding his warm body close to mine and inhaling the clean smell of his hair. He always smelled fresh, like the wind coming off the sea.

"Are you done playing? Ready to go home?" He nodded stoutly, sticking a finger in his mouth. "All right, let Mummy put away her papers and we'll go." I knew Allie would be getting hungry and I felt my body start to respond to the baby's anticipated demands.

I stood up from the bench, putting one of James's hands on the handle of the pram. "Well, it was nice chatting with you," I said to the old man who was also standing. "Are you sure you don't need anything?"

He settled his blanket more securely around his shoulders and smiled at me, his eyes nearly disappearing in the deep creases around them. "I thank you for your kindness, Ginny Weasley, but I have everything I need at the moment," he said, his voice reminding me of the people we had met on our trips to the Grand Canyon.

It took me a moment to register that he'd said my name, but by the time I'd gathered my wits to say something, he was far enough away that if I'd shouted, it would have looked very strange in a park full of mothers and children. I shook my head as if to clear my ears and looked at my children, making sure they were still there and I hadn't stepped into some strange dream. James looked up at me as if to ask why we were still standing here. "Daddy!" he commanded, giving the pram a little push.

I looked again and didn't see the man or his blanket and I shook my head. "Come on, crew. Let's see what Daddy's cooked us for dinner," I said, heading out of the park and towards home.

XXXX

He watched the red-headed woman as she wheeled the pram into the park, heading toward her usual bench. The dark-haired little boy trailed behind her, shouting nonsense and waving a stick that he'd picked up somewhere. It was a San Francisco-perfect Indian summer day and it was warm enough for the red-headed woman to take off the little boy's jumper as she released him to play.

The little boy ran over to the climbing structure with a slide, leaving the woman with the pram. Unnoticed by all but him, she took out her wand and made a gesture at it before sliding it back to wherever she'd taken it from and turning her back on the pram, joined the little boy at the climbing structure. He wished he dared to go closer as the woman helped the little boy climb and waited for him at the bottom of the slide, but he'd discovered the woman was very observant and wary. Besides, this was just a little scouting mission to confirm what he already thought was true.

 _Habits can be so tricky,_ he thought as he watched the little boy slide down and the woman catch him at the bottom. _Reassuring, but dangerous. Same time, same park, same bench … opening yourself up to anyone that wants to follow._

Continuing to watch the woman and the boy, his thoughts turned to the dark-haired man, a burst of hatred blooming in his gut. _There lies danger for sure. Best to take him with surprise, but not until I am certain of my advantage._ Lost in his thoughts about the man, he realized that the woman and the boy had stopped playing together and now she was on the bench next to the pram, leaving the boy to root around in the sandbox. She was reading a thick folder of papers, looking completely engaged with them rather than her surroundings. _Stupid._

As he watched, he saw an old man wrapped up in a brightly-colored blanket sit down next to her and start talking to her. He curled his lip when the old man stuck his head into the pram, dandling something at the baby. _Ugh, babies. Squalling, needy things._ Losing himself in his thoughts again, he observed their interaction when the little boy brought some bit of trash he'd found to the old man who made much of it.

 _Right on schedule,_ he thought as the woman wrapped up the park visit, exchanging inane pleasantries with the old man. As he watched, he experienced a frisson of shock when the old man seemed to meet his eyes for a split second. _Impossible, just random occurrence._

He allowed the woman to leave the park, proud of his skill when she walked right past him without even realizing he was there. Letting her get several yards ahead, he released the spell keeping him hidden and followed them, careful to match their slow pace as the dark-haired little boy was distracted by everything around him.

Their route took them up one of San Francisco's famous hills and the woman challenged the little boy to a race, jogging slowly up it until they came to a charming, wrought-iron garden gate, the boy giving a happy shout of "Daddy!" when the woman opened it. He knew that if he touched that gate he might get a nasty shock, so he made sure to stay well away, tapping his fingers on his thigh as he watched the woman and two children go inside.

 _Yes, habits are hard to break … and so easy to exploit,_ he thought as he turned away from the house with the wrought-iron gate, walking away back down the hill.

XXXX

"Hey, how was the park?" Harry asked, picking James up and nuzzling his cheek, making him giggle and screech in delight. "Did you bring me something nice?"

"Rock!" James said, reaching his hand out to me imperiously. I dutifully placed the piece of quartz in his hand and he showed it to Harry.

"Oh, that's very nice. Good job. Go put it with your others, all right?" Harry set him down and James trundled off to the shelf in the lounge that held his box of special treasures. I carefully picked up Allie out of the pram, turning to kiss Harry as he wrapped his arms around us both. "That's very nice, too," he murmured against my lips. He had Fleetwood Mac on as his cooking music and he put his hands on my hips, swaying the three of us to the sound of You Make Loving Fun.

"Daddy! Dance me!" James commanded, arms upraised. Harry complied, hauling him up and settling him on his hip. The four of us did the best we could, making crazy circles in the lounge until the song was over and James squirmed out of Harry's grasp.

"You're getting so big you're going to have to learn to dance on your own two feet," Harry said, flexing his arm. James just ignored him, choosing to chase after Stuart the cat. "Everything all right?" he asked me, rolling the pram into the mudroom before shrinking it down to a more manageable size.

"Yeah, fine. Got some work done. I'll need to go into the office sometime this week, but it shouldn't be too terrible." Allie started to fuss and I felt my milk begin to let down. "Can you watch James? I need to feed Allie."

Harry whipped the kitchen towel off of his shoulder and gave me a sharp salute, striding over to James and waving the towel at him as if he were a matador in the ring with a very ornery bull, coaxing him into the kitchen. "Come on, Jamie-boy, help your old dad with the veg, yeah?"

 _Old dad. Hardly,_ I thought as I went into the nursery with Allie. _A bit more gray at the temples, maybe, but still quite fit._ Like a lot of dark-haired men, Harry had started going gray by his mid-twenties and sometimes he got a bit of an ego about it. "I'm sure I have a few grays of my own lurking around, too," I'd said one evening when I'd caught him checking himself over in the bathroom mirror before bed.

"Never," he said, turning away from the mirror, favoring me with what I privately thought of as his 'knicker-dropping' smile.

Refusing to fall for it, I leaned against the sink and folded my arms. "Would you even tell me if you saw one?"

Raising an eyebrow, Harry stalked toward me until he had me cornered. "I like my life very much. Why would I ruin it by telling my lovely, beautiful wife, mother of my child, that she has exactly one gray hair right there," he said, touching the top of my head next to my natural part.

"I do not!" I said, pushing him out of the way to take my turn examining my head for the offending strand of gray while Harry laughed his fool head off behind me. Failing to find it, I settled for pinching his nipple, setting off a short wrestling match that ended up with the both of us sweaty and sated after some very excellent sex.

I looked down at the baby latched onto my breast, wondering if that was the night that we made him. _Thank goodness he was easier,_ I thought as I rocked quietly in the dim room, memories of dashed hopes before Marella came to our rescue for James flitting through my mind. _And I wonder exactly what that has wrought? We can hardly keep him out of the water._ I shook my head, making a mental note to look up when the next Mummy and Me swim sessions started. _Though he hardly needs me anymore, the wee little water bug._

Through the closed door, I could hear Harry singing along to Hotel California, James doing his best to screech along with him. _The only thing missing is Teddy_ , I thought. Our godson was well and truly ensconced in Auror training, living with Duncan at the Academy over by the Presidio and having the time of his life when he wasn't grumbling about coursework. We both wished he would come around more often but understood that he needed to break away from us and become his own person. It didn't stop me from embarrassing him with kisses whenever I got hold of him.

Allie gradually slowed the furious pace of his nursing, transitioning from hungry baby to food coma baby in the blink of an eye. After a thunderous belch, I put him down in his cot to sleep it off, running my finger down his soft cheek, smiling when he turned his head as the rooting reflex took over. "Well, time to see how my other boys are doing," I said softly as I left the room.

XXXX

"Watch now, this is how you hold a knife when you want to chop up a courgette," Harry said, demonstrating the correct knife-handling technique and quickly chopping up said vegetable. James sat on the expansive worktop, mimicking his movements with a wooden spoon. "And when you want to really give it to a bloke, you hold it like this." He shifted his grip to one more suited for slicing another person and took a half step away from the worktop, slipping into an easy, bent-kneed stance.

James waved his wooden spoon in front of him, chortling with glee as Harry bounced around on the balls of his feet in front of him. He heard the nursery door open and he quit his playacting, picking up another courgette and quickly cutting it in half and then slicing it evenly. "Don't tell your mum, all right?" he said, giving his son a conspiratorial look.

Ginny came into the kitchen and picked James up off the counter, setting him down on the floor. "I wish you wouldn't let him sit up there," she said as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a pot, banging on it with his wooden spoon. The racket he made competed with the music still playing.

"Why not? He likes to watch me cook. Might be a chef one day." Harry popped a slice of courgette in his mouth and gave her a cheeky grin as she rolled her eyes, taking a seltzer water out of the refrigerator.

"Children don't belong on the worktop. It's a bad habit and what if he falls?" she asked, hopping up onto the worktop in the exact space James had been.

Harry favored her with a raised eyebrow and continued chopping vegetables. "Just in case you haven't noticed, I'm a wizard with exceptional reaction times."

"Exceptional? You hear that, James? Someone thinks awfully highly of himself." Ginny grinned at him and drank more of her water, swinging her sock-clad feet so that her heels gently hit the cabinet door.

Harry slid the chopped courgette into the pan and gave it a stir in the olive oil just as he heard the _swish-thunk_ sound of a letter dropping into the wizarding mail slot. "Oh, what's that?" Ginny asked, hopping off the worktop and landing lightly on her feet.

"Mail!" James shouted, following her into the lounge.

"It's from Ron," she said, taking the letter out and giving the envelope to James. He pretended to read it and then started gnawing on the corner.

"Yeah? What's he have to say?" Harry asked, turning down the music. He checked the pasta and decided it was done, dumping it carefully into a colander in the sink. "Damn things," he said, taking off his fogged-up glasses.

"Hm, how are you … Hermione … blah blah, Hugo … Mum and Dad … Rose … oh, this is odd." Ginny looked up at me and frowned. "Why does Hyperion McGinn sound familiar?"

Harry's heart stuttered in his chest and he took a deep breath. "You remember? That bloke that we nabbed was doing all the Muggles?" he said, trying to sound casual.

Ginny snorted. "Which one?"

"The one that was doing the hikers? Then mutilating?"

"Oh, that's right," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Nasty piece of work. Well, he's dead." She handed him the letter and he put his glasses back on, quickly skipping over the family news.

 _I thought you'd want to know that Hyperion McGinn has finally popped his clogs. I got an owl from the department about it yesterday and they asked if I'd pass the news on to you. He hung on longer than any of us thought he would, not that he deserved any extra years at all. If it were up to me, I'd have shoved his arse through the Veil as soon as we laid hands on him, but it wasn't up to me. Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish._

 _Bad rubbish indeed,_ Harry thought, setting the letter aside. He became aware of Ginny looking at him with an expression he hadn't seen in some time. "It's fine," he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Is he the one that you …?" she said, clearly unwilling to finish the sentence.

"Yeah." Harry turned to the skillet and gave the courgette another stir. Dipping his pinky in the simmering red sauce for a taste, he asked Ginny to set the table, determined to not let the specter of Hyperion McGinn ruin his evening with his family. _He ruined too many lives already. No need for him to ruin mine._

XXXX

"You ready, mate?"

Harry looked up from the file he was reading, seeing Ron standing in the doorway of his cubicle. He was practically bouncing on his feet with eagerness and Harry grinned at his infectious enthusiasm and closed the file with a snap. "Yeah, let's go."

The two of them headed through the Auror department, chatting quietly. It was very late in the evening and the place was practically deserted, most of the Aurors having the good sense to go home. They walked through the echoing Atrium, the Floo fireplaces quiet and came to the bank of lifts. Ron pressed the call button. "Level 9, yeah?"

"Yeah." Harry suppressed a feeling of dread in his stomach at the thought of entering the Department of Mysteries. He'd been in and out several times in the course of his Auror training, but memories still intruded. _Neither can live while the other survives …_

"What d'you reckon is going to happen?" Ron asked, breaking in on his thoughts as the lift slowly descended.

"Dunno. Never seen it. I suppose it'll be about like we think." Ron shuddered and clasped his hands behind his back, looking up at the numbers above the lift doors. The rest of the ride was silent and the doors opened with a soft _ding_ , announcing that they had reached the ninth level, but not what was housed on the level.

Two Unspeakables stood on either side of an ornate door, their faces blank masks. Harry had met them a couple of times and thought the one on the right was called Ross, but he didn't feel it would be appropriate to walk up to the man with his hand out, saying, "Hallo! Ross, is it?" so he didn't say anything.

The two men nodded to them, the one he thought was Ross silently handing each of them an entire chocolate bar. Ron opened it and broke off a piece, quickly chewing and swallowing it down. Harry followed suit when the Unspeakables made no move to open the door until they were certain he'd eaten a piece of the chocolate. He didn't need much coaxing, to be honest. He could already feel the chill emanating from the Dementor on the other side of the door. His mother's voice screamed faintly in the back of his mind.

 _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all,_ he thought as the Unspeakable that wasn't Ross opened the door. "Should have brought a jumper," Ron muttered as the temperature dropped further. _God, how can he joke? What does he hear when those bloody things are nearby?_ After a split second of thought, Harry knew exactly what Ron heard and for a moment he was back in the basement of Malfoy Manor, trapped with a dying old man and truculent goblin, Ron going mad as Hermione screamed out her torture. He shoved another square of chocolate in his mouth, letting the sweetness on his tongue dull the voices in his head.

Once they were in the room, Harry realized that they were the last to arrive, apart from the condemned. The heads of the Aurors, Unspeakables and Wizengamot were all present, along with a rather mousy-looking witch seated at a small writing desk. In the middle of the room, not too far from the archway with the oddly fluttering black cloth floated a Dementor, looking like a malevolent black cloud. It was now so cold in the room, that Harry's breath frosted white in front of him. He ate another square of chocolate.

"Ah, Potter, Weasley. Very good," said Thomas Hill, the current head of the Auror Department. "I think we're ready to start then?"

The Supreme Mugwump nodded, and made a sweeping gesture causing Harry's Auror tattoo to tingle when a door on the far side of the room opened without a sound. Two more Unspeakables entered, bigger and burlier than the ones at the door. Between them was Hyperion McGinn, bound with thick, black spell-ropes. His cold blue eyes took in the assemblage, settling on each one of them in turn and staring for several seconds before moving on. Harry met him head on, refusing to look away, certain that he could see a little extra hate for him in the other man's eyes.

He was a little surprised to see that McGinn wasn't under the Full Body Bind, but he supposed that being Silenced and wandless, there wasn't a lot he could do in a room full of wizards and one aimlessly floating Dementor. Thinking of the creature made his mother's screaming voice in his head stronger, so he ate another square of chocolate.

The Supreme Mugwump nodded and the witch at the desk started reading from her parchment. "Hear ye, hear ye, we are assembled today to pass a sentence of the Dementor's Kiss on Hyperion William McGinn for thirty counts of murder and desecration of a corpse. He has been tried in a fair court of magical law and found guilty. Are there any here who would ask mercy for this man?"

One by one, each person said, "Nay." Next to him, Ron practically yelled it and when the Supreme Mugwump looked at him, Harry felt his throat constrict and he cleared it, looking straight at the condemned man when he said, "Nay" in a strong voice.

The mousy witch gave a single nod. "No witnesses have begged mercy on behalf of the condemned. Hyperion William McGinn, you are sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss," she pronounced, the sound of her voice seeming to fill the room. Across from them, secure between the two Unspeakables, Hyperion McGinn snarled soundlessly, his face a mask of hatred underneath curtains of gray, stringy hair.

Harry looked over at Ron, wondering what was coming next. Ron looked back and shrugged, eating another square of chocolate. They'd both eaten half of their bars by now. Harry nearly jumped when Head Auror Hill put his hand on his shoulder. "You've never seen one of these, have you?" he asked, sounding like they were out for an afternoon Quidditch match.

"No, sir. I mean, I've seen Dementors, of course," Harry said, glad he hadn't actually twitched a muscle.

"Ah yes. I recall now that you were brought up in front of the Wizengamot for defending yourself and your … cousin?"

"Yes, sir." Harry was uncomfortably reminded of when he was in disguise at Bill and Fleur's wedding and had people he didn't know chatting to him. "So, what comes next?"

"The last kiss McGinn will ever get," Hill said, a touch of savage glee in his voice. "You boys did well, bringing him in alive."

 _I don't know that he'd thank us for that,_ Harry thought, watching as the Unspeakables maneuvered the condemned man closer to the center of the room. _It'd be more humane to push him through that veil._ Unbidden, the memory of Sirius falling through the archway came to him and he shook his head, willing it away.

The Dementor started to drift toward the trio and Harry saw sweat breaking out on the foreheads of the Unspeakables, even though the temperature had dipped down even more. They let go of him and took several steps back; Harry was astonished that McGinn didn't simply collapse then and there. The Dementor came closer and Harry was soon chilled through, his stomach trembling and his breath coming out thick and white.

Horrified, yet helpless to look away, Harry could only stare as the Dementor came closer, moving its head like a dog trying to pin down an interesting scent. He devoured half of his remaining chocolate in one bite, desperately hoping to banish the sounds of his parents dying over and over in his mind. Eyes wide, he watched as the Dementor lowered its ragged hood, revealing a mottled-gray face completely featureless save for a leech-like mouth that seemed to quiver in anticipation.

Finally, McGinn showed something other than hatred. His blue eyes seemed to ice over with fear and he trembled, nearly falling over where he stood. The Supreme Mugwump calmly extended his wand, keeping him upright to receive his punishment. Extending its long-fingered hands, the Dementor cradled McGinn's face, almost like that of a lover and slowly, inexorably brought its face to his. There was a sound almost like a sigh and Harry's ears popped.

Losing all interest in the human before him, the Dementor's hands fell away from McGinn's face and it drifted away. Harry got a glimpse of the emptiness in the formerly hatred-filled blue eyes and his gorge rose, filling the back of his mouth with the taste of half-digested chocolate. He looked at Ron, noticing that the fair-skinned redhead was pasty white, eyes flitting between the freely floating Dementor and the soulless man standing passively in the center of the room.

Harry had a crazy impulse to barrel into McGinn and knock him through the Veil to end his suffering, but he stuffed it down. _Is he suffering? Does he even know what's happened to him?_ The man's eyes continued to stare blankly forward, taking in nothing of his surroundings.

Beside him, Auror Hill took out his wand and Harry realized that everyone else, including the mousy witch that had read the pronouncement had theirs out as well. At a nudge from his commander, Harry took his out, too, not sure what was going to happen next. "Patronuses," the Supreme Mugwump said, moving his wand in the familiar circular motion. A silvery cat sprang from his wand, soon joined by a horse, an owl, an eagle and a ferret. A moment later, Ron's terrier joined the throng and Harry steeled himself, shutting out his parents and the horror he'd just witnessed, focusing instead on Ginny and how they had chased each other around on brooms just last Sunday at the Burrow and fallen into her bed together that same night. His stag burst from his wand, leaping toward the Dementor.

Faced with the silvery Patronuses, the Dementor backed away and Harry realized it was being herded towards … _the Veil! They mean to put it through the Veil! But why?_ Incapable of sound, the Dementor slid noiselessly through the archway and into … oblivion.

Heart pounding, Harry wiped cold sweat from his brow, nearly dropping his wand from nerveless fingers. None of the others seemed affected by what they'd just seen and done. The two Unspeakables were chatting quietly about meeting up at the pub and Harry suffered a moment of cognitive dissonance until he looked at Ron, sharing a shell-shocked glance.

"Potter, Weasley," Head Auror Hill said quietly, "thank you for coming and volunteering your witness. If you could sign the declaration of sentencing on your way out?"

"Yeah, all right," Harry said, moving towards the small desk as if his feet were weighed down by concrete. He scribbled something that might have been his signature and fled the room, Ron hot on his heels. They made it out of the room, past the Unspeakables that guarded the door and into the lift where they rode in complete silence to their floor. Halfway across the Atrium, Harry veered to one side and vomited until he dry-heaved into a potted plant. He could hear Ron doing something similar not too far away.

After what seemed like an eternity, he stood up on shaky legs, feeling not one bit better and wiped his mouth, Vanishing the mess he'd made. "All right, mate?" Ron asked, still looking pasty white but with a bright red nose.

"Never better."

XXXX

Harry's eyes snapped open and he swept the blankets off his body, rolling out of bed and landing in a crouch, heart beating crazily in his chest. His wand was in his hand and a dizziness swept over him as he realized that he wasn't in the Department of Mysteries, but in his own bedroom, the moonlight through the curtains illuminating the sleeping form of his wife.

He sat down with a thump, the chill of the wood floor through his boxers helping him come back to himself and he wiped the sweat from his brow, slowing his breathing. _Oh, God, a dream. That's all, just a dream. Hyperion McGinn is finally gone. I'd say God rest his soul, but …_ The memory of the Dementor being herded through the Veil, sending McGinn's soul beyond any hope of recovery came back to him along with a heavy dose of guilt.

 _It wasn't my decision to make. I just did my job and caught the bloke._ He blew out a shaky breath and lifted his head to see if he'd disturbed Ginny, but she seemed like she was still asleep. Quietly standing up, Harry left the bedroom, padding out to the upstairs hallway in his bare feet. He looked at the door to James's bedroom, listening for any sounds before going in, quiet as a ghost. They kept a night light for him and Harry stood next to his cot, looking down at his hard-won son. Sound asleep, the boy was curled up into a little ball as usual and Harry smiled fondly, setting his hand on top of the thick, dark hair, smoothing it away from his cheek. _Safe._

 _And now for the other one._ Harry entered Allie's nursery, not really surprised to see the baby wide awake, but quiet. A glance at the clock showed him that it was getting close to five in the morning and he bent over the cot, picking up his son and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Mummy won't be too upset if you have breakfast a bit early, will she?" he whispered, checking the baby's nappy. "Oh, she definitely won't mind help with that."

After getting him clean and changed, Harry carried Allie downstairs and into the kitchen after checking Teddy's room. It was empty as expected, but they'd been surprised before when he'd joined them for breakfast on occasion. In the refrigerator, he found one of the packets of milk Ginny had pumped, complaining about feeling like a barnyard animal the first few times.

"Look at this ridiculous contraption," she'd grumbled when she'd taken it out of the box. "I feel like I ought to be chewing a cud while this thing does its work."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he picked up the empty box. This unit touted itself as being hands-free and showed a woman sitting at a keyboard as she wore what looked like some sort of tube top with suction cups and little bottles attached. "You know you don't have to go back to work, Gin," he said, putting the box back down as Ginny untangled tubes and wires.

Ginny sighed as she finally freed one of the suction devices and set it aside. "Harry, I have to do something. It's been nearly three years since I went on leave with James and sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy. Vijay says I'll only need to go into the office a couple of times a week for meetings and things."

Harry snorted at the sound of Vijay Malhotra's name. "He's worse than a stalker."

"He's hardly a stalker."

"He sent you flowers on James's first birthday and a card that asked if you were ready to come work for him yet." Ginny raised her eyebrow at him and he made an effort to calm the jealous monster in his chest. "I'm just saying if you don't want to do it, tell him to shove off."

"But I do. Harry, I'm a fully-qualified Healer and Muggle physician. I have to do more with that knowledge than diagnose childhood sniffles." She gave him what he thought of as her 'instant erection' smile, raising one of the pumping devices to a covered breast. "Besides, if I have milk easily available, then I can sleep in and you can feed the sprog."

Balancing Allie in the crook of his arm, Harry efficiently warmed the milk, still irked that he had to use his wand to do it. Ginny could do it wandlessly since it came from her, but she rarely had to use it. A few minutes later, they were in his favorite recliner, the nursing baby warm against his bare chest. Soothed by the sounds of Allie industriously sucking milk out of the bottle, Harry closed his eyes, working through his dream.

 _Or nightmare, more like. Hands down the most awful thing I'd ever seen until that time with Gin …_ Another image, this one of Ginny in a beautiful dress falling backwards down stone steps assaulted him and he opened his eyes, blowing out a long breath. He thought about Ron's letter and what he'd said about McGinn. _Popped his clogs. Oh, Ron. Sometimes he just has a way with words._

He didn't doubt that his friend's turn of phrase was meant to soften the blow somewhat; what had happened that night and their part in it had affected them both deeply. Harry remembered going to Ginny and waking her out of a sound sleep to shiver in her arms like a lost child. _And Ron got roaring drunk and started a fight in a Muggle pub and got arrested for his trouble._ He shook his head, wondering what had happened to the stupid kids they used to be.

"All done?" he murmured quietly when Allie turned his head away from the bottle and started fussing, waving his arms around and nearly knocking Harry in the eye with a balled-up fist. He was in the middle of coaxing a belch from him when Ginny came down the stairs, looking at them with narrowed eyes. "He just finished. Sorry."

Ginny sighed and stretched out on the sofa. "I guess I'll just have to chew my cud. What got you up?" Harry shrugged, not really wanting to say the wretched man's name out loud in the presence of his family and she nodded. "I figured. You want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Allie let out the desired belch and Harry wished he had a cloth on his shoulder as he felt the results slide down his bare skin.

"Suit yourself. I'm going to go take care of business since someone has already had breakfast." She got up from the sofa, nuzzling Allie and then Harry in turn, leaving him with a soft kiss. Having a sleepy, warm baby on his chest made Harry sleepy in turn and he leaned the recliner further back, closing his eyes and slipping into a thankfully dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Who am I supposed to be, again?" Harry asked as he swept the high-collared red cloak over his shoulders.

"Dr Stephen Strange," Ginny called from the bathroom.

"Who?"

Ginny leaned around the doorway, careful to let Harry only see her head. "The Sorcerer Supreme," she said, explaining precisely nothing.

"Hmph." Harry looked at himself in the mirror, feeling utterly ridiculous in the billowy shirt and loose trousers, not to mention the over-the-top boots. _There is one redeeming quality though,_ he thought, stroking a finger down the mustache and beard he'd grown to complete the look.

 _More gray in it than there used to be. Might keep it for a while. The kids have been remarkably more well-behaved._ He crossed his arms and tried out his teacher look, startled when he reminded himself of his year four Maths teacher, Mr Sloan. _God, I haven't thought of him in ages. Wonder how he's doing? If Dudley has inflicted his spawn on him?_

"Aren't you ready yet?" Harry called. He'd been forbidden to enter the loo while Ginny was getting ready for Jacob's annual Halloween bash.

"Almost. Keep your cape on!"

"Well, I'm going to go down. Please feel free to join me when you're ready." Harry spun around, the ridiculous cape flaring around him reminding him of his old Auror cloak, tucked far back in the closet. Downstairs, he poured himself a pre-party scotch, hoping to dull the bit of edginess he felt. _I'll never like Halloween and I'll never like Jacob's parties,_ he thought as he took a long sip of the scotch, savoring the burn down his throat.

The house was strangely quiet without James gamboling around nor Allie lending his own brand of noise. As usual, Sarah and Archimedes were more than happy to look after the boys. "Especially since that means I don't have to go to Jacob's party," Archimedes had said with an arch smile when they'd dropped the boys off earlier.

"They're _my_ kids and _I_ don't even get to use that excuse," Harry grumped as he set up the pack-and-play.

"It can't be as bad as all that. At least you know more people now." Archimedes helped him with a recalcitrant brace, shoving it into place.

"Doesn't mean I like them!" Harry upended the bag of stuffed animals into the pack-and-play, making it look like the world's smallest and strangest zoo, listening with half an ear to Ginny and Sarah chattering in the kitchen. They were accompanied by James's enthusiastic banging on a pot.

"Now you sound like me," Archimedes chuckled, casting an eye toward the kitchen. "They're going to be a while. Refreshment?"

Harry nodded and followed him into the den he called his 'technological haven'. Sarah couldn't abide modern technology and had refused to allow him to expand outside of his den, though she did admit to coming in to keep up on her 'stories'.

"How's Teddy doing at the Academy?" Harry asked once he was comfortably settled on the ancient leather couch, a glass of fine scotch in hand.

"He's doing well. Doesn't he tell you?" Archimedes sat down in the similarly ancient recliner, running his fingers absently through his long white beard.

"You know how boys his age are. Ask him how things are going and all you get is 'fine' in return." Harry shrugged, sipping his drink.

"He's doing more than fine. He and Duncan are neck and neck for top of their cohort."

"They haven't burned the place down yet?"

"Not for lack of trying."

Harry grunted and shook his head, thinking about his godson and how his determination to follow in his mother's footsteps and become an Auror had driven a wedge between them. _I still think it's too dangerous, but I can't make his decisions for him. Hopefully he never has to see something like Hyperion McGinn_ , he thought, realizing the man was still very much on his mind. "Pardon?" he said, realizing that Archimedes had been talking to him.

"Nothing important." The older man gave him a shrewd look as he sipped from his glass. "What's on your mind? It's not just Teddy."

Stalling for time, Harry drank some more, resisting the desire to finish the scotch in one long gulp. "Have you ever seen someone get the Dementor's Kiss?"

Archimedes was quiet for several moments before answering and Harry had the feeling that he was weighing how much to tell him. As the head of the Northern and Central California Aurors, Harry knew he had seen and done a lot, most of which wasn't for consumption of ordinary civilians like himself, no matter who he used to be. "Not one used as punishment," he said finally. "We don't do that here. Cruel and unusual, you see."

"Eighth Amendment?" Harry asked, pleased to see Archimedes nod. _All of those lunches with Juanita have paid off._ Since moving to the US, he'd made a point of becoming familiar with the law of the land, both Muggle and magical. He'd been glad to discover that magical law hewed itself very closely to the Constitution and maintained several of the same provisions. "Well, even back home you have to be pretty bad to get it." Now he did finish the scotch in his glass, Hyperion McGinn's empty blue eyes at the forefront of his memory.

"What happened?" Archimedes asked quietly, taking the glass from Harry and refilling it.

"There had been reports for years of people, mostly Muggles, disappearing along the Cape Wrath Trail up in Scotland." Harry swirled the scotch in his glass, listening to the clinking of the ice cubes. "Ministry was too busy until the end of Voldemort to pay attention to it and when they decided to figure out what was going on for once and for all, they sent me and Ron."

"And?" he prompted gently when Harry fell silent.

"We found some evidence of Dark magic, Blood magic, on a section of the trail near Kinlochewe. Beautiful place; mountains, nature reserve. Very sparsely populated and mostly caters to the hikers that come through on the trail," he said, remembering being blown away by the gorgeous vistas of the mountains in the Northern Highlands.

"What did you find?"

"There was a device. Looked like a bundle of twigs with some feathers in the shape of a man. You know what I'm talking about, yeah?" Harry said, the memory making the skin of his tattoo twitch. If it hadn't been for their Auror tattoos, they wouldn't ever have found it.

"I can think of a few things that fit that description. What did it do?"

 _"_ _Ron, no! Don't touch it!" Harry yelled, nearly knocking his friend on his arse as he reached out for the little bundle with his bare hand._

 _"_ _Gerrof, Harry!" Ron shoved him away, the red in his face belying his embarrassment at reaching out like a curious child for an unknown magical object. Glaring at him, he pulled a pair of thick dragonhide gloves out of a pocket of his black cargo trousers and put them on, crouching down next to the thing once more._

 _Similarly gloved, Harry poked the bundle with his finger, experiencing an odd burning tingle in his tattoo. "Feel that?" he asked when Ron poked it, too._

 _"_ _Yeah. Blood?"_

 _Harry nodded. "I think so." He conjured a plastic bag, carefully putting the thing in it and sealing it shut with a wave of his wand._

 _They stood and turned around, taking in the vast emptiness. "Who lives around here?"_

 _"_ _Not too many. There's a very small village, but I understand it's all Muggle. I can't think of any wizards that live up here."_

 _Ron grunted in agreement. "Me, either. Let's get this back to the Department and see what we can find out."_

"It was a Compelling Charm. If you touched it with bare skin, you'd be compelled to throw yourself off the mountain. Ron almost touched it."

"Imperius? Ought to have been able to resist it. You were trained."

"Boosted with blood, though? Glad we didn't have to find out." Harry set the glass of scotch down on the battered coffee table and stood up, feeling the need to move. "Anyway, we were able to trace the blood to Hyperion McGinn. He'd been living out there so long he'd gone a bit strange. Just him and his son until he sent him to Durmstrang."

"What was he doing with the bodies? Cannibal?" Archimedes asked, tracking his movements as Harry paced slowly around the room.

"Ugh, not that at least. I could never decide if it was isolation that drove him mad or if he isolated himself because he was mad." Harry shook his head. "Anyway, some years before, his wife had become very ill and he became convinced that the only way he could save her was with Blood magic."

"Did it work?" Archimedes leaned forward, avid interest on his face.

"No. She died, but old Hyperion was convinced that he just hadn't found the right spell and continued his experiments on unwary hikers." He picked up a medal from a shelf and put it back down without really looking at it. "He was convinced that he would be able to create something akin to the Philosopher's Stone using Muggle blood and other bits," Harry said, suppressing the vision of the house of horrors that Hyperion McGinn's cottage had been. Hearts and lungs stored in jars, as fresh as the day they'd been removed. He would never forget the lurch in his guts when he'd picked up one jar only to realize that one of the victims must have been pregnant.

"What about the son?" Archimedes asked, breaking into Harry's thoughts.

"He was away at school when most of this was happening. We interviewed him and he acknowledged that his dad was out of his tree, but he didn't know what he did in his workshop. Said he was never allowed in."

"But you had your doubts."

"Of course. How could you live in that house and not know?" Harry sat back down on the sofa and picked up his glass, soothing his dry mouth and throat with the scotch. "Anyway, he got the Kiss for it and Ron and I asked to witness it."

"Rough thing to see," Archimedes said. Harry nodded in agreement, staring at a shelf of books without really seeing them. "That's not what bothers you the most, though?"

"No. You've heard of the Department of Mysteries?" Archimedes nodded. "There's a thing there, an archway and leads to the Other Side," Harry said, completely sure that he absolutely shouldn't be saying anything about this to the old Auror, but the need to unburden himself drove him to speak. "After the … Kiss, we all summoned our Patronuses and drove the Dementor through it."

"Putting that soul beyond all hope of recovery," Archimedes said quietly, turning his empty scotch glass around in his hands.

"Yeah. No one's really yet figured out how to recover a soul that's been Kissed, but I guess they didn't want to chance it with that one." Harry looked down at the floor. "I mean, he was a bad bloke and we caught him, but his sentence wasn't down to us, yeah? We had no part in that decision, but driving the Dementor through … we were active participants." He was quiet for several moments before speaking again. "And I guess I didn't realize how much that had been weighing on me until I heard he'd finally died a few days ago."

"Ah. Who had the care of him? His son?"

"No. Charity, I think. Iain was still quite young when this all happened."

Archimedes sighed and set his empty glass on the table. "It's a bad business all around. Be glad you caught him. You did good."

"Never expected to take part in his punishment though."

"His punishment was done. What was done afterwards was a bit beyond the pale, but not your fault." Archimedes put his hand on Harry's knee, forcing him to meet his eyes. "Don't beat yourself up about it, all right?"

Heaving a breath, Harry nodded. "Yeah. Maybe I'll go out and get drunk and start a fight like Ron did."

"Why does that not surprise me? What did you do?"

Harry took a breath to answer but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Ginny stuck her head in, smiling widely. "Are you in here telling secrets?"

"Only about you, love," Harry said smoothly, catching Archimedes's eye and raising an eyebrow.

"Well that's a relief. The boys are sleeping. Shall we make our getaway?"

"Sounds like we'd better get out while we can." Harry rose from the sofa, shaking Archimedes's hand. "Thanks for looking after the troublemakers."

"Oh, it's our pleasure. I'm sure you'll give Jacob and Evelyn our regrets. Maybe we'll make it next year," he said with a wink, kissing Ginny on the cheek. "Have a good time. We'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

"Harry? Are you in the lounge?" Ginny called from upstairs, bringing Harry back to the present.

"Yes!" he shouted back, not worried about waking up a baby for the first time in a while.

"Turn around."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to be surprised, that's why!" Ginny commanded imperiously. Grumbling, Harry complied, turning his back on the stairs, listening as she came down. _No rustling of cloth, so not a dress …_ he thought, trying to guess at her costume. All he knew was that she was supposed to be a famous magician. "Okay, turn around."

Harry turned and stopped in his tracks, mouth falling open in surprise. Not only was she not wearing a dress, she was wearing barely anything at all! She had on what looked like maybe half of a Muggle tuxedo, complete with a long-tailed black jacket. Fishnet stockings and a black top hat perched at a jaunty angle completed the look. She grinned at him, twirling a shiny black walking stick and struck a pose, one leg out and chest thrust forward. "Well? What do you think?"

"Erm … who are you supposed to be? Is that a bathing costume?" Harry said, eyes roaming over her fit body. _Bloody hell, those stockings make her look like her legs go on for miles!_

"I am Zatanna Zatara, a comic book magician," she said, placing her hand in the middle of her chest. She pointed at him with a white-gloved hand. "You are Stephen Strange, also known as Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme in the comic books."

"So we're comic book characters, then? And your character looks like that?" Harry closed the distance between them and put his hands on her hips. "I might have to start reading comic books!"

Ginny swatted him on the arm and spun out of his grip, brandishing her cane dramatically. "Hands off me, brigand! I'll have to use my magic to defend myself!" She pointed her finger at him again and said, "Zap."

Harry groaned dramatically, clapping his hand to his chest as he fell backwards over the sofa. "You got me," he gasped.

"I didn't do anything to you, you big baby." Ginny grabbed his hand, hauling him upright. "Come on, we're going to be late!"

"I thought it was good to be late to parties."

"Fashionably late. We're starting to get beyond that." Ginny reached out and ran her finger down his beard. "Are you going to keep this?"

"Maybe. The kids have been behaving better." Harry favored her with his teacher look before bending down to kiss her, moving his hands underneath her long coattails to cup her bottom in his hands. He lost himself in her kisses, letting the sensation drive away the memory of his afternoon conversation with Archimedes.

All too soon, Ginny broke away, lipstick smeared. "I might let you keep it for a little while after all," she said breathlessly. "Shall we?"

They linked arms and Harry drew the voluminous red cloak closer to him. "Are all comic book characters this … outlandish?"

"According to Ben they are! He's the one that suggested these."

"Mm. Remind me to thank him the next time we see him."

XXX

People in extravagant costumes swirled around the room, reminding Harry of flocks of birds as they came together and split apart into smaller groups. Over the years he'd made a sort of peace with the American penchant for running around in disguise on Halloween but having so many unfamiliar people around him still made him uneasy.

He'd managed to find himself a relatively quiet corner of Jacob's lavishly decorated ballroom, sipping some sort of bubbling, green concoction while Ginny flitted around chatting to various people. They had caused quite a stir with their arrival, Ginny especially in her barely-there costume. Harry had nearly laughed out loud when he overheard two witches talking about her. "I can hardly believe she just had a baby!" one of them said behind her hand. He wanted to correct her and tell her that Allie was four months old now and that his wife had worked very hard indeed to get back to what she called her "fighting weight".

Blessedly alone, he watched as Ginny fell in with a group of young mothers, pulling her little phone out of somewhere to show pictures of the children. As usual, this seemed to devolve into a combination of motherly one-upmanship and asking Ginny for Healer advice. She caught his eye from across the room, wryly shaking her head as a woman, dressed like some sort of princess, held forth at length.

"So, Harry! Fancy yourself as the Sorcerer Supreme, do you?" Harry turned, surprised to see Jacob had materialized next to him. This year he was dressed as what must be the most foppish vampire that had ever existed, more akin to Bela Lugosi on overdrive than the vampire Harry remembered meeting at Slughorn's party all those years ago. Jacob smiled at him, wincing a bit as a transfigured fang caught his lower lip.

"Good evening, Jacob!" Harry spread the red cloak wide and grinned. "I'm afraid that I didn't have anything to do with this. Gin and Ben put their heads together and here I am."

"And there's your lovely wife." Jacob inclined his head to the group of women which now included a very pregnant Evelyn, dressed as a female counterpart to her husband. Harry saw Jacob's eyes take in Ginny's figure in her costume and stilled the monster in his chest, clearing his throat instead.

"And yours. Gin's looking forward to midwifing for her."

"We wouldn't have anyone else." Jacob looked him up and down again, making Harry feel like he was under a microscope. "That beard suits you. I think you should keep it," he pronounced, making it sound like an order in that particular way he had.

"I'll take that under advisement," Harry said, refusing to let Jacob and his high-handed ways get under his skin. "Looks like you maybe got a bit overenthusiastic with your fangs."

Jacob chuckled and put his arm around Harry's shoulders in a show of bonhomie. "Listen, I have someone I want you to meet. My new assistant, Scott Andrews."

Harry followed Jacob on a twisting course through the crowded ballroom, wondering if this Scott Andrews would also be taking over Evelyn's other duties as Jacob's bodyguard. As usual, Jacob had to play the host, stopping to chat to just about every group they encountered, forcing Harry to put on his company manners and chat as well.

"Harry! How's that dueling team shaping up this year?" A man dressed as a life-sized Pooh Bear whacked him on the shoulder and it took him several moments to recognize the man as parent of one of his students.

"It's coming along well. We have our first big meet against Mission Hills in a couple of weeks," Harry said, trying to recall which child the man was attached to. Over his shoulder he saw Ginny mouthing "Tyler" and he gave her a subtle nod in thanks. "Tyler has really improved and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in his matches."

Tyler's father beamed proudly, looking rather silly in his costume as he puffed out his chest. "Well with the great Harry Potter as a coach, I'm sure we'll take them down hard!"

 _Great, indeed. Sometimes merely adequate, more like,_ Harry thought as he made agreeable noises back at the man. "It's been wonderful chatting with you, Hugh, but there's someone I need Harry to meet. See you at the meet!" Jacob said, uncharacteristically coming to Harry's rescue.

"Thanks for that," Harry said quietly as they wound their way through the partygoers.

"You looked like you were getting ready to run. Ah, here we are." They had ended up by the sumptuous refreshment table. A young man had positioned himself behind what looked like a very well-stocked bar and Harry realized that he was dressed as Han Solo and making a very good job of it. "Scott, I told you, you don't have to stay behind the bar. Get out and mingle!" Jacob said reproachfully.

"Aye, but what better place is there than behind the bar? Everyone comes to see me eventually!" Scott said and Harry heard the tinge of Scots in his voice. "What can I get for you gentlemen?" He eyed Harry up and down and Harry braced himself for the moment of recognition, but none came. "You look like a whisky man. Lagavulin?"

"Erm, yes," Harry said, taken aback by the young man's prescience.

"Don't let his youth fool you, Harry, he's very good behind the bar," Jacob said, taking the glass of scotch Scott set in front of him.

"Did a bit of a turn at a few pubs out of school. Great way to meet the ladies." Scott winked and Jacob laughed uproariously, slapping his hand down on the bar.

"Unusual choice for a wizard," Harry said.

"My da was taken ill and I wanted something close by." Scott shrugged and turned his attention to another partier, efficiently putting together a gin and tonic. "Any road, I'd been away at school and didn't really know anyone in the area anymore and it seemed like a good way to get to know people again."

"Sorry to hear about your father. Did he recover?"

Scott shrugged again, wiping his hands on a towel. "He died," he said simply and Harry had a rush of awkwardness, groping for something to say when he was saved by Ginny.

"Hello, who's this?" she asked, sliding her arm around Harry's waist.

"Ginny! Lovely to see you looking so well!" Jacob said. He gestured to Scott, smiling expansively. "I want you to meet my new assistant, Scott Andrews. He's going to be taking over Evelyn's duties for the foreseeable future. Scott, I'd like to introduce you to Harry and Ginny Potter."

Scott's eyes went wide and he actually gasped. "Harry Potter? As I live and breathe! I didn't recognize you!"

Another burst of awkwardness washed over him and he self-consciously ran his fingers through the gray streak at his temple. "Well, it's, uh, been a few years since I was in the news. I imagine the pictures are quite old by now!"

"Those eyes will never change!" Scott thrust his hand out and shook Harry's vigorously before turning his attention to Ginny. "Ginny Potter? Weasley, right? Ron Weasley's sister? What's your pleasure tonight?"

"Oh, just seltzer with a bit of lime," she said, shooting Harry a raised eyebrow. "Say, aren't you missing a tall, hairy companion?"

"I'm still rather new here, so I haven't yet had time to acquire either a wookiee or a princess." Scott handed her the seltzer and lime and gave her a wolfish grin. "D'ye happen to know anyone who might fit the bill?"

"Maybe one or two," Ginny said, blushing prettily as she sipped her drink.

"So you're new to the area?" Harry said, angling to get Scott's attention away from Ginny.

"After me da passed, I had to get a bit of a change of scenery," Scott said, expertly opening a bottle of wine and pouring a glass for another partygoer. A good-sized crowd had gathered around the bar and Harry was starting to feel hemmed in.

"Well, San Francisco is definitely a change," Harry said, picking up his glass of scotch. "We'll let you get on with your mingling. Good to meet you."

"I'll keep an eye out for a Leia … or a Chewbacca," Ginny said, giving him a saucy wink as they left the bar.

"What was that about?" Harry murmured as they left Jacob holding court at the bar.

"What?" Ginny asked, pasting an innocent look on her face.

"Yeah, don't hand me that innocent look," Harry snorted, putting his arm around her shoulders. He sighed, looking around at the crowded, noisy ballroom. He spotted Artemis and Diana chatting with some other teachers from school and it was a few seconds before he recognized Megan the Charms teacher and Sophia from Herbology under their costumes. He saw Sophia casually lay a hand on her abdomen and he nudged Ginny. "There's your next client."

"You think so?" Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes. "Hm, too early to say anything to her yet." She looked up at Harry, nodding in appreciation. "You have a good eye."

"I am a trained observer. What did you think of Jacob's new assistant?"

"He seemed nice. I know Evelyn has been on Jacob to hire a new one, so she's got to be relieved."

Harry frowned, glancing back toward the bar. Evelyn had joined Jacob and they stood close together, Jacob's hand on his wife's shoulder. "He wouldn't have made her work, would he?"

"Oh no. He was insisting he could handle everything on his own and just making the biggest mess. Jacob's people were calling her directly and begging her to do something. She finally had to take the reins and get this young man hired."

"Well, you know what's behind every successful man," Harry said, grinning down at his wife.

"I know what's behind this successful man," she said, making him jump when she pinched his arse. "How are you doing? Ready to go home?"

"I think you know the answer to that one."

"I think I do. Shall we?"

Harry glanced over to the bar where the crowd around Jacob had increased and managed to catch the new assistant's eye. He inclined his head towards the exit and got a nod in return. "That's done it. Let's get out of here." He put his arm around Ginny and squeezed her tight. "I've been thinking of getting that ridiculous costume off of you all night."

"Oh, have you? I've been thinking of having you leave that cloak on," Ginny said as they left the overcrowded ballroom.

A moment later they were back in their own blessedly quiet and uncrowded lounge, Harry pulling Ginny tight against him as they kissed. She was trying to worm out of her long-tailed coat when they heard a voice.

"You guys are back early!" Stifling a groan, Harry beheld his godson standing in the kitchen doorway. He had a sandwich on a plate and an enormous bag of crisps. _You don't come and see us for ages and then you decide to stop by tonight?_

"Teddy!" Ginny said, disentangling herself from Harry's embrace. "How nice of you to come by! Are you here for the weekend?"

"Well, I thought I'd come by and see if you needed help tonight with the kids, but when I got here you were already gone," Teddy said, ambling into the lounge and making himself comfortable on the sofa. He flipped on the telly and opened the huge bag of crisps. "I should have known you'd have the boys with Sarah and Archimedes." He started noisily crunching crisps as he navigated through the menu on the telly, bringing up a list of shows. "They don't have any of this stuff at the Academy. I have to catch up!"

Harry shot a look at Ginny as she covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. "No Duncan tonight?" she asked, jamming her hand into the bag of crisps.

"Nah, he had a date," Teddy said through a mouthful of ham sandwich.

 _And there's the real reason why he's here,_ Harry thought, grabbing a handful of crisps for himself. _Tough sharing a place when your mate has someone over and you don't._ He smiled, thinking of the times that he and Ron had done each other the courtesy of staying away from the flat when one of them was entertaining company.

"Well, we're glad to see you, love." Ginny kissed the top of Teddy's head and squeezed Harry's hand. "I'm going to get out of this getup and then I need to take care of a few things," she said, giving him a significant look.

Harry watched her walk up the stairs, shedding her long-tailed coat as she went, certain that she was putting extra wiggle in her walk. His suspicion was confirmed when she looked at him over her shoulder as she reached the top. Knowing Ginny would be occupied for a while, Harry sat down on the sofa next to Teddy, digging in the bag for more crisps. "What are we watching?"

"Game of Thrones. I'm way behind and I keep running into spoilers online." Teddy looked at Harry and raised his eyebrow. "Doctor Strange, I presume?"

"Apparently. Gin's supposed to be someone called Zatanna."

"Ben's doing, I assume. Good party?"

"All right," Harry shrugged. "Jacob's got a new assistant."

"Finally." Teddy shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and sat forward, focusing on the telly. "Oh shit. What? There goes that theory."

"Well, the Lannisters do always pay their debts. Don't act like you're surprised." They sat companionably together on the sofa, drawn into the drama playing out in front of them. "How are things going at the Academy?" Harry asked as they watched another poor sod get run through with a sword.

"Fine," Teddy responded, eyes glued to the screen. "Um, I actually really like it."

"Yeah?" Harry said, surprised to hear more than Teddy's standard 'fine'. "No one's giving you a hard time?"

Teddy frowned, flicking his eyes towards him and then back to the action on the telly. "Why would anyone give me a hard time?"

"Well, I dunno. Maybe someone thinks you have an unfair advantage with your abilities?"

"Nah. The cohort seems like a pretty good group." Teddy fell silent, crunching through more crisps as two armies advanced on each other on the screen. "Hey, um, thanks."

"For what?"

"Agreeing that I could go to the Academy."

Harry's throat tightened and he cleared it, remembering the difficult time they'd gone through just before Christmas over Teddy's desire to become an Auror like his mother and himself. "Well, I figured you'd start and see how hard it is and then come running back home," he said, affecting a light tone as he pushed on his godson's shoulder.

"Fat chance. I'm going to become an Auror out of spite." Teddy gave him a sidelong glance and grinned.

Harry nudged his shoulder with his and turned his attention back to the telly. Onscreen, a direwolf made an appearance, making him think of Coyote. "Have you seen Him lately?" he asked as the wolf streaked across the screen, savaging some unlucky soul.

"Hm? Coyote, you mean? No, not since that cave. Why?"

"Dunno. I mean, I know that Niyol came to you for help, but it all seems a little too pat, yeah?" Harry said, leaning back against the sofa. "I admit that I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Suspicious old Auror," Teddy snorted, clicking the button on the remote to move on to the next episode.

Harry stood up from the sofa and stretched, wondering if Ginny was done with her 'business' yet. "Old, am I? That'll be you, soon enough. You all right? Need anything?"

"I always need money."

"Of course you do. I'm going to head up. Good night."

Teddy paused his show and shot him a sly look. "Sleep well."

Harry swept the absurd red cloak around him and gave his godson a superior look before sweeping majestically up the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't trip over the damned thing. In the bedroom, he was disappointed to see Ginny already in her pajamas doing her nightly moisturizing routine.

"Don't look so disappointed, Harry. I'm still going to bed with you," she said, grinning at his crestfallen expression.

"Do you have those stockings on under your charming flannel trousers, by any chance?" Harry asked, finally unfastening the heavy red cloak.

Ginny wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Ugh, no. I couldn't wait to get those off. Fishnets look great but they're rather a pain in the arse to wear." Harry undressed and got ready for bed, the familiar routine and the scent of Ginny's lotion soothing away some of the stress from the evening. "What did Teddy want?" she asked snuggling up against him once they were both in bed. "Everything all right at the academy?"

"Yeah, he says everything is fine. Apparently, Duncan is 'entertaining' tonight and Teddy is making himself scarce. And he wanted to catch up on Game of Thrones," Harry said, pulling her tight against him.

"Well, I'm glad we could be so convenient for him." She ran her finger over the beard covering his chin. "Thanks for dressing up in that costume. I know it's not your favorite thing."

Harry shrugged and kissed her forehead. "It's just once a year." Ginny took on a speculative look and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, this year will be James's second Christmas and Allie's first," she said slowly, trailing her finger down his neck and the middle of his chest. "And James will know a bit more of what's going on."

"Mm-hm …?" Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Ginny's fingertip skating over his skin.

"And since you seem to enjoy dressing up now …" her fingertip had reached his bellybutton and she circled it, giving him a shiver just behind it.

"Gin, I'm not dressing up as Father Christmas."

"Why not?" she asked, her breath warm in his ear.

Harry opened his eyes and turned to look at her in the dim light of the bedroom. "I couldn't possibly dress up as Father Christmas. My eyes are the wrong color."

"Who says?"

"Aren't his eyes blue? Dumbledore would have made a better Father Christmas than I would."

"Dumbledore was much too thin," Ginny said, resting her hand on top of Harry's flat stomach.

"And I'm not?" Harry turned onto his side, pushing Ginny onto her back. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her unique scent. "When I laugh does my stomach shake like a bowl full of jelly?"

"Oh, I should check!" Ginny pushed on his shoulders, turning him over and dove at him, tickling his ribs and making him break out in surprised laughter. "No," she said in mock disappointment, sweeping her hand over his warm skin. "I guess you wouldn't make a very good Father Christmas, after all."

"Just my luck." Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Ginny's hands on his body as she moved to straddle his hips, sweeping her hands up and down his chest and scratching her fingernails against his ribs. Unbidden, the empty blue eyes of Hyperion McGinn swam up in his vision and he gasped, eyes snapping open.

"All right?" Ginny asked, brows drawn down in concern as she looked down at him from her perch on his hips.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, willing his heart to slow down. He sat up, grinning as Ginny squeaked in protest at the change in their positions. "You just hit an interesting spot," he said, feeling the smallest twinge at the white lie as he pushed up her tank top. "Here, let me show you where it was …"


	3. Chapter 3

Harry paced around the St Ambrose gym, watching as the members of his dueling team practiced the Jelly-Legs Jinx. He had a dozen members, including two reserves, divided up into varsity and junior varsity squads.

"Coach Potter, isn't the Jelly-Legs Jinx a bit … remedial?" Gabby Burns asked, giving the freshmen and sophomores of the junior varsity team a sidelong look.

"Maybe I should pair you against Joe, then?" Harry pointed to a tall boy that looked much older than fourteen, making him stand up straight. "Yeah, all right. Mixed practice today, yeah?" He looked at his assembled team as they shuffled around. "Varsity, you're still non-verbal. Pair up."

After a little initial grumbling, they settled down and began trying to jinx each other. As he walked around the practice area, Harry kept a Shield Charm up to take care of any stray spells that came his way, having learned his lesson in the very first practice when he'd caught the brunt of a Knockback Jinx. The jinx hadn't knocked him down, but it spun him around and embarrassed the hell out of him and he was determined to never repeat the error. He paused for a moment, watching a senior he'd paired against a sophomore. Caroline Fernandez was tiny and senior Geoff Lewis towered at least a foot over her, but she was a shrewd competitor.

As he watched, arms folded, the two combatants saluted, raising and lowering their wands in precise, practiced motions. Caroline's eyes were trained on Geoff, watching him for any hint of movement; Harry thought that if she had a tail, it would be swishing back and forth in anticipation. In a flurry of motion, Geoff cast, hoping to catch Caroline off guard, but she was ready and shouted " _Protego!_ " sending Geoff's spell caroming off of her shield and straight into Harry's where it exploded in a burst of orange light.

"Sorry, Coach!" Caroline covered her mouth in dismay as Harry waved his hand.

"No worries. That's what I've got my own shield up for. Good job on that block, but you should have followed up with a counterattack. Geoff, you shift your feet too much when you get ready to cast." Harry positioned himself so there was an empty alley between him and the wall, dropping his shield. "Watch my feet." He stood still, focusing on the wall about twenty feet away before exploding into motion all at once, sending the jinx to crash harmlessly against the wall. "You see? Don't move until you intend to cast."

"Yes, Coach," Geoff said, nodding seriously.

"Caroline, I want you to try non-verbal, all right?" He'd had his eye on her for moving up to varsity after the holiday break. She was very sharp and he knew she was starting to get bored on the junior varsity team.

The girl's face broke into a wide grin and she nearly hopped in place, stopping herself at the last moment. "Yes, Coach! Thank you!"

Harry nodded and moved on to the next pair, watching a junior and freshman go at each other. The freshman, Joshua Gomez, was clearly out of his element and collapsed to the springy mat as the spell hit him full force. "Coach," he groaned as Harry helped him sit up, "it's no fair if I can't hear him cast!"

"That's why you've got to watch him and learn how he operates," Harry said, nodding at the junior standing a little uncertainly at the other end of the strip. "An Auror always has to be ready to defend himself."

"But I want to be a Magineer, not an Auror," Joshua muttered as his legs came back to normal.

Harry laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Well, you never know where circumstance will take you!" _I for one never thought I'd find myself here,_ he thought as he helped him stand, watching to make sure he was steady. He was just about to move on to the next pair when he saw the door to the gym open out of the corner of his eye and he turned, letting out a quiet groan at the sight of Jacob, followed by his new assistant.

Jacob gestured grandly to the gym, no doubt filling Scott's ears all about how he'd been single-handedly responsible for building the gym all by himself. Harry liked the man and enjoyed his company in small, measured doses, but his penchant for self-aggrandizement did tend to get on his nerves. Recasting his shield, he cast one for Jacob and his assistant as well. _It would never do to have our team's benefactor knocked on his arse!_

"Jacob! What brings you down here?" Harry said as he approached the pair. They'd stopped to watch a sophomore/junior pair duel. The students looked at him, unsure what to do, but Harry waved them on and they shrugged, taking their positions across from each other on the mat.

"Harry! I wanted to bring young Scott down here and show him around a little." He turned to Scott and gestured to Harry. "Harry's in charge of the Dueling Club here at the school. He and the team have built up quite the reputation in the last few years." They watched the students in front of them, Jacob smiling beatifically. "I do love dueling. The ceremony, the traditions … the rules. It's very poetic, don't you think?"

"It's nothing like a real fight, that's certain," Harry said, thinking back to his days of running and scrambling for cover while trying to get the other guy down as quickly as possible. Dueling, on the other hand, was rigidly controlled with strict procedures and protocols designed to ensure a fair competition. _Fairness was not usually a consideration when chasing a criminal,_ he thought.

Scott looked around at the kids in various stages of dueling and then back to Harry. "I would have thought that Quidditch would be more your style."

"Well, there was already a Quidditch coach here when I started, so I ended up with dueling by default," Harry said, mildly embarrassed. "Not much good on a broom these days."

"Oh, I'm sure Harry Potter is still able to catch a Snitch," Scott said, smiling widely at him.

"Harry, that brings up something I've been thinking of. What do you think about a staff vs students Quidditch match? We could make it into a fundraiser and have some fun at the same time," Jacob said, bringing the attention back to him.

"Are you volunteering to be on the team?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at him. A stray jinx painted orange light against the charm protecting Jacob and his assistant.

"Well, I'm not exactly on the staff." Jacob looked down at the wood gym floor, pretending to be abashed.

"Our mascot, then." Harry looked at Scott, noticing how closely he was watching his team. "How about you? Which house did you play for?"

"Hm? Oh, I didn't go to Hogwarts or play Quidditch," he said, looking back at Harry.

"No? Where did you go? Beauxbatons?"

Scott smiled and shook his head. "No, I went to Durmstrang."

"Durmstrang, really?" Harry asked, a jolt of surprise going through him. "What made you decide to go there?"

"Bit of a family tradition. Along with dueling."

Jacob clapped his hands together in delight. "Ah, yes! Harry! What do you say to giving this young man a tryout?"

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Harry demurred.

"Oh, come on, Harry! I think you'll find Scott to be a good challenge," Jacob said in a cajoling tone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the students closest to them had stopped dueling and were watching them, curiosity clear on their faces. He looked at Scott with an appraising eye. The young man looked calm and not at all daunted by the prospect of a duel with the man that had defeated Voldemort, so he shrugged. "All right."

Jacob clapped in sheer delight and spread his arms wide. "Wonderful! Listen up, children! We're going to see something very special!" he shouted as the team stopped their individual duels and turned to face them, initial confusion giving way to eagerness as they gathered around. "My assistant, Scott, was top of his dueling team at the Durmstrang Institute. Let's see how he measures up against your coach!"

Harry groaned inwardly as his students let out a collective gasp and started whispering to each other. _They see me cast spells every day. Damn it, Jacob._ "All right, everyone off the mats," he said, directing the team to stand off to one side. He cast a shield in front of them and stepped onto the dueling mat.

Scott had taken off his jacket and tie, rolling up his shirt sleeves as he stepped up opposite Harry. Like his team, Harry was already in his practice kit of a comfortable, long-sleeved tee shirt and loose trackies. "Standard rules?" Scott asked, drawing his wand.

Harry nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet to loosen up. "Should be all right. First to three points with a reset after each hit. No Unforgivables or bodily harm." _No need to get blood all over the mats_ , he thought as we watched his opponent limber up, trying to get a gauge on how quick he might be. "Cast when the referee, that's you, Jacob, gives the signal."

Jacob nodded and readied his wand, looking very pleased with himself. Harry checked to make sure none of the team were trying to get around the barrier he'd put up and nodded to Scott. "Ready?"

"Aye, if one is ever ready to face Harry Potter," he said, grinning widely. Harry suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, raising his wand in the traditional salute instead. Scott mirrored him and the both of them fell back into a ready stance, feet planted firmly on the mat with one in front of the other and wands held in front of them.

Harry's heart raced as he waited for the signal from Jacob, a myriad of spells running through his head before he settled on a simple Tripping Jinx. _Quick to cast, small movements, obvious effect. Perfect._ He focused on his breathing, keeping it even and deep as he waited, eyes focused on his opponent's, searching for any clues as to what he was going to do.

 _"_ _Allez!"_ Jacob shouted, sending a jet of red sparks between them to signal the start of the round. Harry's blood sang in his veins at the start of battle. Instinctively, he dropped down into a crouch, making himself a smaller target and moving the center of his body downward in an attempt to spoil Scott's aim. Just as Scott's first spell went flying over his head, Harry sent the Tripping Jinx at him, landing it perfectly and sending the young man to the mat with a shout.

"First point to Harry Potter!" Jacob yelled as Harry helped Scott up from the mat. The watching students cheered, letting out loud whoops and cries of "Go coach!"

"All right?" Harry asked, surprised at his breathlessness as Scott rolled his shoulders. The thrill of victory nearly made him shiver. _Been far too long since I've had a good fight._

"Aye. Wasn't expecting ye to drop like that." Scott grinned at him and to Harry it looked more like a baring of teeth than a smile. "You won't surprise me like that again."

"We'll see," was all Harry said as he walked back to his end of the mat, resuming his ready stance for the next round. Adrenaline still coursed through him, but now that the first confrontation was over, he felt steadier. _Just like being at the academy,_ he thought, remembering endless drills and rounds with Ron and the other Auror trainees. _And just like the academy, I'm going to see what you can do._

 _"_ _Allez!"_ Jacob shouted again, sending another spray of red sparks shooting between them. Harry watched Scott, resisting the urge to fire a spell off right away. He'd expected him to cast quickly again, but he seemed to be doing his own watching. _Come on, cast something already,_ he thought, using all of his discipline to stand still and give no hints as he stared at him, absorbing every nuance and detail of his movement, looking for the young man's tell.

Almost faster than the eye could see, Scott cast, sending the spell shooting right at Harry and he tried to sidestep, sending his own spell flying back at his opponent. His aim was spoiled by his movement however and Scott's spell caught him on his shoulder and he found himself hoisted into the air, hanging upside down by one ankle. The laughter of long-dead boys filled his mind as he was forcibly reminded of his father's mischief with the young Snape. His team rallied to him, shouting, "No fair!" and "Let him down!"

"One point to Scott!" Jacob crowed as Harry's face flamed in embarrassment, leaving him wishing he could control the blood flow to his face like Teddy could. He grunted as Scott canceled the spell, causing him to fall to the mat.

"Well done," he said as he hauled himself up from the mat with his opponent's help. Scott looked inordinately proud of himself and Harry decided that he'd have to take him down a peg. _I think I've got your measure now, son. Let's see what you do on this next one._

"Even score," Jacob called as they resumed their ready positions. Harry stood quietly, knees flexed for quick movement, shutting out the ruckus his students were raising. _"Allez!"_ Jacob shouted, more red sparks shooting between them. Springing into motion, Harry stepped to the left instead of the right this time, careful to stay on the dueling strip. He hurled the Slug-Vomiting Curse at Scott, forcing him to quickly raise a shield, sending the jet of green light skipping off into the ceiling where it took out a light fixture.

Scott sent another spell winging at him and Harry raised his down shield, sending whatever had been hurled at him caroming off into a wall. An instant later, he dropped his shield and they cast at the same time, Harry whirling to the right. Scott was on the move as well, lunging forward and ducking so Harry's spell flew over his head. He had clearly been anticipating Harry's move to the right because he practically walked right into Scott's spell, the Full Body Bind locking his legs together and sending him falling to the mat flat on his back.

His team howled in outrage with more than a few anguished shouts of, "Come on, Coach!" as he got back onto his feet, wiping sweat from his brow. He raised his hands, motioning for them to quiet down as Jacob called out Scott's lead. Caroline looked at him imploringly, her eyes begging him to redeem the reputation of the team and he winked at her, grinning when her cheeks turned pink.

"Harry, it canna be all that long since ye were runnin' around and capturing Dark wizards! California livin' has made ye soft, man!" Scott grinned at him, bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking like he was very eager for the end of the match.

 _Arsehole looks fresh as a daisy,_ Harry thought uncharitably. "Well, you're still new here, so you don't know what California living is all about yet. You'll figure it out soon enough."

"Oh, strong words from Potter!" Jacob intoned, relishing his role as referee and announcer rolled into one. "Will challenger Andrews make him eat those words? Gentlemen, ready for the next round!"

Harry retreated to his end of the strip, keeping his breaths deep and even, flicking through hexes and jinxes in his mind like he was looking through a stack of index cards, finally settling on one. _Yes. That will do nicely._ Focused on his opponent, he relaxed into his stance, waiting for Jacob to start the round.

Red sparks crossed between them almost as if they were in slow motion and Harry crouched, responding to the dip in Scott's wand that he'd discovered in the previous rounds. Belying his eagerness for the win, Scott's spell flew wide, sending a blue bolt crashing against the shield he'd cast in front of his students. In the heartbeats between the miss and Scott's reaction, Harry acted, springing forward out of his crouch to send a green jet at him.

Behind him, Harry's team let out loud whoops of excitement as Scott's feet began to move uncontrollably, sending him to land flat on his arse on the mat as they continued to flail about. "Round four to Potter! We have another tie!" Jacob said, canceling the Dancing Feet Charm on his assistant and helping him to stand up. Harry stood quietly at his end of the strip, raising an eyebrow as Scott shot him a dark look.

 _Didn't like that one, did you? You're not at Durmstrang anymore, me boy-o,_ Harry thought; the memory of being hauled up by his ankle still rankled. He resisted the urge to taunt Scott with a victory dance.

"All right, lads! Last round! Who will be the conqueror?" Jacob had to shout over the dueling team's cheers of _Coach! Coach! Coach!_ over and over, exploding into applause when he bowed to them.

Harry narrowed his eyes, taking stock of his challenger. _His confidence is shaken, he's embarrassed and angry. Perfect._ Knowing he would get only one shot, he tensed his muscles, the urge to move thrumming through him.

 _"_ _Allez!"_ Jacob shouted and Harry threw himself forward, neatly tumbling over the orange jet that Scott sent to the spot that he'd occupied a split-second before, sending his own spell as he sprang back up. An enormous bubble encased Jacob's assistant and Harry's team went berserk as Jacob declared Harry the winner of the match.

The mob of excited teenagers engulfed him, nearly sending him to the mat in their rush to congratulate him. "Hey! All right, now! Settle down!" he shouted, trying to save himself from further overenthusiastic back slaps. He canceled the Ebublio Charm and gave Scott a respectful bow.

Scott returned one of his own, sweeping his wand in front of him in the formal gesture for the defeated opponent. "Well done, Harry! Maybe instead of a Quidditch match, we should have a faculty vs student dueling tournament!" Jacob said, squeezing Harry's upper arm hard enough to make him wince.

"Oh, that would be awesome! Yeah!" Geoff shouted, the rest of the team yelling in agreement.

"I don't know about that, Jacob! I'm the only one that really does any dueling, but most of us can ride a broom and toss a Quaffle, yeah?" Harry reached out and shook Scott's hand, noting that he didn't go in for any macho nonsense and try to squeeze the life out of his hand.

"Thank you, Harry. It was an honor and a privilege," Scott said, smiling ruefully. "I see I have some practicing to do if I want to defeat you in a duel someday."

Jacob put a consoling hand on his assistant's shoulder. "There's no shame in being defeated by Harry. You acquitted yourself quite well." His eyes lost focus for a moment and he grinned. "Ah, yes, dear. We'll be home shortly. What would you like? Of course. See you soon."

"Evelyn?" Harry asked, realizing that Jacob must have been wearing one of the clever earpieces put out by Magical Materials.

"Yes. It seems my love has a desire for a Blizzard post haste." He nodded to the team still clustered around them. "Thank you very much for allowing me to borrow your coach and steal a bit of your practice time." The team mumbled and shuffled, unaccustomed to his direct attention.

Harry clapped his hands to get their attention. "All right, let's call that for today. You did well; I think we'll be doing more mixed practices in the future," he said, grinning when the team let out a collective groan. "Thanks for coming by, Jacob. I haven't had a good bout in a while."

They shook hands and Jacob took his leave, assistant in tow. Harry looked up at the light fixture that had been damaged by the wayward spell, shooting a silent _Reparo_ at it. "No need to tell Mr Keller about that one, all right?" he said to Gabby standing next to him. She gave him a conspiratorial grin and mimed locking her mouth shut before following the rest of the team out of the gym.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight shining down onto the plaza. _Better get it while I can,_ I thought, savoring my lunchtime coffee. I thought about my brother and Hermione up at Hogwarts and how quickly the days shortened that far north. _More sunshine for me!_

Even though the day was sunny, a chilly breeze was blowing and I adjusted the scarf around my neck as I read through the report I'd brought to keep me company while I escaped the craziness that was the office at the moment. Vijay had been riding us hard to present our findings on magically-enhanced acupuncture to the SF Thaumaturgical board by the end of next week and there were still a lot of data to go over and double check.

 _At least I talked him out of three days a week,_ I thought, turning a page on the report. _Two days a week from my boys is all he gets._ Completely absorbed in my reading, I gave a little jump when a voice spoke to me.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" I looked up, surprised to see the old man sitting in the metal chair across the table from me. He still had his white hair in two neat braids and his blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"Hello, how have you been?" I asked, marking my place in my reading and setting it politely aside. "Can I get you anything? Coffee?"

The old man made a face when I said coffee and grinned, showing white, even teeth. "Tea, please. And maybe one or two of those biscuit things?"

"Watch my things, please." I went into the cafe, shaking my head at myself. _Wait until I tell Harry about this latest addition,_ I thought as I ordered tea and biscotti, adding in a caprese sandwich as well. A few minutes later, the old man's eyes widened in delight at the bounty before him. I'd brought several packets of honey and watched him as he added four of them to his tea.

"Thank you very much, Ginny Weasley," he said as he sipped his tea.

Hearing my name gave me a bit of a shock and I remembered that he'd said it before, when we'd met at the park with the boys. "Now that's no fair," I said, hoping I didn't sound frightened, "you know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Oh, yes. How rude of me. Most people call me Joe." He dunked one end of the biscotti in his tea, crunching into it happily once it had reached the desired consistency.

"All right. Joe, then," I said, certain that it was nothing close to his actual name. "How do you know my name?"

He shrugged, dunking the second half of his biscotti. "People talk and people listen, especially when people don't think other people are listening."

I frowned and thought about that. "What do you mean?" He inclined his head towards a man on the sidewalk across the street. He sat on a pile of blankets with a hopeful cardboard sign and paper cup in front of him, completely ignored by the passersby as they chatted away.

Harry had developed quite the reputation with the street folk as he always had a few dollars to pass around, a habit he'd passed on to Teddy. Along with money, he tossed out the occasional Cleaning Charm and minor healing when he felt reasonably sure he wouldn't be caught out. At the thought of healing, I peeked under the table. As I suspected, he was still barefoot, his strong brown feet looking in fine shape underneath the tattered hem of his jeans.

"Would you like a closer look, Ginny Weasley?" he asked, lifting one foot towards me and wiggling it around.

"Well, since you're offering." I grabbed it before he could pull away, giving it a quick once-over, pleased that there were no cuts or ulcers. Foot trouble due to exposure and diabetes was very common and any sort of infection could spell doom for a toe or even the whole foot. "You pass," I said, setting his foot back down. He smiled widely at me, his eyes disappearing into deep wrinkles.

My little phone chimed, letting me know I had a meeting with my team in fifteen minutes. "It's been delightful seeing you again, but my minder has just let me know that I have a meeting coming up soon." I started gathering my papers, tucking them into the satchel Harry had bought me when I decided to go back to work. "Can I get you anything else?"

He waved his hand and shook his head. "No, the tea and biscuits were exactly what I needed. And I have this nice sandwich for later. Thank you."

I stood up, settling the bag on my shoulder. "It was good seeing you again, Joe. Take care of yourself out there."

"You, too, Ginny Weasley." He stood up as well, secreting the wrapped sandwich somewhere on his person and settling the blanket firmly on his shoulders. "Keep a close eye on your James and Albus, too."

"What?" A burst of shock making my fingers twitch toward my wand. "How do you know my sons'—" I asked, but he was already halfway down the block. My phone chimed again, reminding me that I now had ten minutes to make my meeting. _I must have said their names at the park,_ I thought, silencing my phone. I crossed the street, taking a moment to drop a couple of dollars in the beggar's cup, nodding at his "God bless." _That must be it. He must have an excellent memory._

"Mummummummum!" James shrieked as he ran towards me, arms outstretched. He tripped over the cat and stumbled, making me swoop down to catch him before he fell flat on his face.

"Oh, hello! I missed you so much today!" I said, nuzzling my nose in his neck, making him squeal and squirm in my arms. He threw his arms up and became dead weight, slithering out of my grasp and down to the floor.

Harry stood in the kitchen doorway, Allie cradled in one arm as James lost all interest in me and scampered after Stuart, trying to grab his tail. "Hello," I said, setting my bag down as I kissed him. "Sorry I'm so late. Vijay was in a chatty mood and came at me with some of his 'ideas'." I took the baby from him, breathing deeply of his unique baby smell that I could never get enough of. "Thanks for getting the boys."

"No problem. Hungry?" Harry went back into the kitchen and I followed, my mouth watering at the wonderful smell that came out of the oven when he opened it.

"Famished. What's on offer?"

"Baked chicken and rice with mushrooms, peas and a salad," he said, setting the baking dish on top of the cooker.

I lifted an eyebrow, looking around the kitchen. "I don't see a salad."

"That's where you come in, love," he said, tapping me on the nose as Allie started fussing in my arms. "You've got to make some contribution to our dinner."

"I need to make a contribution to this one's dinner," I retorted, joggling my son in a futile attempt to calm him. "Did James eat already?"

"Yeah, Sarah had fed James and Allie had a bottle around five, she said." I glanced at the clock, seeing it was almost seven.

"Well, let me see if he'll take any more and then we'll see to your salad." I kissed Harry on the cheek and headed up toward the nursery, collecting James and the cat in my wake. In the nursery, I managed to wrangle the both of them into my lap and I knew right away that Allie wasn't really hungry but wanted my closeness.

I looked down at the both of them, smoothing down the cowlick at the back of James's head. I thought about the old man, Joe, and his admonishment to keep a close eye on them. _Strange, but they're never alone plus they have two Aurors looking after them. Well, one ex-Auror and a couple of Aurors-in-training. Safe as houses._

Eventually I gave up on getting Allie to take anymore, deciding I could delay pumping until after I'd had some dinner. James had fallen asleep and I floated him gently out of my lap, keeping him suspended in midair as I got Allie down in his cot before settling him in his own.

Downstairs, Harry had the bar at the kitchen island set for two. "Everyone settled?" he asked, tossing the bowl of salad with wooden tongs.

"I was going to do that!" I protested, picking a slice of tomato out of the bowl.

"You had enough to do. Besides, I got tired of waiting." He gave me a cheeky grin and I swatted him on his right shoulder, startled at his wince.

"I didn't hit you that hard. You all right?" I probed around his shoulder blade, pressing harder when he hissed.

"Ouch! Why do you press harder when I tell you where it hurts?" he grumbled, stepping away from my manhandling. "I got a bit fancy today at practice."

I took the plate he handed me, the chicken and rice dish looking absolutely delicious and piled on plenty of fresh green salad. "You did? What happened? Did one of the kids have a go at you?"

I sat down at the bar and dug in. "No, Jacob showed up with that new Scott bloke." Harry sat down next to me and started eating.

"What did Jacob want? Evelyn still has a few weeks to go."

"He just wanted to show off the team. He pays for the uniforms, so he thinks he's got a role to play. You know how he is."

I did indeed know how Jacob was. Like all businessmen, he never passed up an opportunity to talk about himself. He had a good heart, though. "So, because he was showing off, you felt like you had to?"

"Apparently young Scott was tops in dueling at school."

I frowned as I chewed, taking a drink of water before speaking again. "School? Since when did Hogwarts have an actual dueling club?"

"He didn't go to Hogwarts. Durmstrang."

"Oh, that's unusual for a British lad."

Harry shrugged and finished off his salad. "S'family tradition apparently. Anyway, Jacob set him on me and I took a few falls."

He affected a casual air, but if there was one thing I knew about Harry Potter it was that he absolutely hated someone getting the best of him. "Aww, does somebody need a hug?" I said, rubbing the back of his neck. I grinned at the flush of red on his cheeks when he swatted my hand away.

"No. He got me in a _Levicorpus_ and a full-body bind." He took a long drink of water and grinned back at me. "I got him back, though."

I leaned in toward him, propping my chin up in my hand, my elbow rudely on the bar. "What did you do?"

"Bubble Charm," he said with an air of satisfaction and I clapped.

"Well done! One of the more mortifying curses to use in a duel, especially for one that used to be the top dog at school."

"I definitely didn't like being held upside-down, that's for sure."

"How did Jacob take the defeat of his assistant?" I finished off the delicious chicken and rice, debating whether I should go back for another couple of bites.

"He seemed all right. He's got a pretty good poker face. D'you know he's got some daft idea for a faculty vs student Quidditch match? Says we could do it for charity." On the surface, Harry sounded derisive, but I could see the glint in his eye at the idea of flying Seeker again.

"You could bring Ron in as a ringer for Keeper."

"As if. Parker would have my head," Harry snorted, cleaning his own plate. "Too much pride in that one."

"He might not be the only one." I nudged his arm as I stood up, taking my empty plate to the sink. "You're getting a reputation," I called over my shoulder as I rinsed the plate off.

"Am I? For what?" he asked, joining me at the sink.

"Your generosity, apparently." I packaged up the leftovers into containers, noting that Harry must still be cooking for Teddy because there were at least three more meals left over. _Lunch for me tomorrow._

Harry looked at me, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What sort of generosity? Who've you been talking to?"

"Cool your jets you jealous thing. I had a conversation today with one of your street people."

"Yeah? What did they say?" Harry paused in his washing up and looked at me, arms crossed against his chest.

"It was sort of strange. I was there at that little coffee shop by the hospital, sitting outside and he just joined me at my table without so much as a by-your-leave. He seemed perfectly harmless and he knew my name. Called me Ginny Weasley."

Harry grunted. "Weasley, not Potter?"

"Yeah. And when I asked him how he knew my name, he said that people talk, especially when they don't think other people are listening and he nodded at a homeless bloke across the street, so I figured it had to do with your Robin Hood act," I said, leaning against the closed door of the refrigerator.

"Huh. I didn't think anyone knew my name." He turned back to the sink, quickly filling it with soapy water and setting the dishes to washing themselves. _So much easier than arguing over whose turn it is to load or empty the dishwasher._

"And you know, I've seen this gentleman before and he knew my name last time, too." I winced when Harry's head came up and he looked at me sharply.

"You what? When was this?"

"I dunno, before Halloween? A couple of weeks ago? I was at the park with the boys and he sat down on the bench next to me and we chatted a bit." Despite my best efforts, I knew I sounded defensive.

"What did he look like? Do you know his name? Did he touch you or the boys?" Harry took a step toward me and I took a step back, keeping the distance even between us.

"Settle down! He didn't touch anyone and he said his name is Joe. He looks like an old Native American fellow; I'm sure you'd remember him if you saw him." I reached out and put my hand on his arm, squeezing gently. "We're all right. Nobody is hurt."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding. "Yeah, all right. Sorry." He took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. "He doesn't sound like someone I've helped. I'll keep an eye out."

"Please do. He seems like an interesting fellow. I wonder what his story is?" I hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. "Now, if you'll excuse me, neither of your sons were very interested in eating, so I need to go chew my cud."

"I wish you wouldn't call it that," he said with a moue of distaste.

"Mooooooo!" I grinned at him as he shook his head and stuck his tongue out at me. Upstairs in the quiet of the nursery, I thought about Joe and our conversation. _Oh, I forgot to tell Harry what he said about the boys._ I envisioned Harry's reaction to that and reconsidered. _Hm, maybe I'll just keep that to myself; he'll just get worked up over it. How does he know us? Maybe he's a wizard as well._


	4. Chapter 4

Led Zeppelin pounding in his ears, Harry ran in the cold early-morning dawn, his steps keeping time with The Immigrant Song's pounding rhythm. He was running down the Embarcadero, the tacky, touristy Pier 39 behind him and the elegant tower of the Ferry Building in front of him. As he ran, he passed several people asleep on the sidewalk, bundled up in blankets of varying quality.

Over the years, he'd become proficient enough at Cleaning Charms that he could cast minor ones wandlessly as he ran by. He did so now, glad that most of the men and women were still asleep. It pleased him that they'd wake up in slightly better shape than they went to sleep in.

Closer to the Ferry Building he slowed, looking for a particular person that frequented the area. He was well-known to the ferry commuters for his dog that he'd trained to do little tricks for donations. More importantly to Harry, Abraham knew most of what went on in the loosely-strung community of the homeless in San Francisco.

He caught sight of the familiar rainbow-striped blanket and slowed to a jog, running over to a coffee kiosk that was just opening. A few moments later, he had two hot cups of coffee and a pocket full of tiny tubs of cream and packets of sugar. "Good morning, Abraham," Harry said, crouching down next to the waking man.

"Harry?" Abraham said, peeking out from under his layers of blankets.

"Yeah. Coffee?" Harry held out the steaming cup, smiling as Abraham's eyes lit up.

"Oh, thanks a million," he said, carefully taking the cup and breathing in the steam as Harry dug out the tubs of cream and sugar packets out of his running jacket pocket.

A small, tan doggie face popped out of the blankets. "Good morning, Lazarus." Harry patted the mutt on the head, wishing he'd thought to bring a few treats for him as well.

Coffee doctored to his specifications, Abraham took a long drink, smacking his lips in contentment. "You must be a mind reader, Harry. I swear I was dreaming about coffee just a few minutes ago. Back when I was driving truck, there used to be this place on my route between Chicago and Cleveland that just had the best coffee I've ever had. Good pie, too."

Harry sipped his coffee, listening as Abraham rambled on. He'd learned it was best to let him talk for a while before actually trying to steer the conversation anywhere. Occasionally he got what he needed just by letting him talk. When he finally seemed to be winding down, Harry took his opportunity. "How've things been out here lately? Any trouble?"

"Oh you know. The hassles, the tourists. Same old same old. Just trying to get by. I don't do too bad. Lazarus here is a good partner." Lazarus grinned as Abraham patted him on the head.

"Any new faces around?"

"A few. There's a pair calling themselves Samson and Delilah up by the Haight." He shook his head. "They're a little bit strange, but they seem nice enough."

Harry nodded as he listened to more of Abraham's chatter. He'd never seen him anywhere else in the City other than by the Ferry Building, but he always seemed to know what was going on. "What about any Native Americans?"

Abraham raised an eyebrow. "No one new, no. Unless you're talking about old Joe?"

"Maybe. White hair, braids." Abraham nodded, absently rubbing Lazarus's ears. "What's he like?"

"He keeps to himself mostly. In and out," he said, shrugging as he finished his coffee. "Says some weird stuff every now and then, but he seems all right. Not one to cause any problems unlike some others out here." Abraham glanced over to another sleeping bundle across the plaza and back at Harry, raising both eyebrows significantly.

"You've really got to let that go," Harry chided. "It's been five years."

"He has to apologize first."

"Don't you think you should be the bigger man?"

"Bah. Overrated." Abraham stretched his arms high over his head and yawned. "Well, I have to get set up. Time to earn my daily bread. Thanks for the coffee, Harry."

Harry stood from his crouch, fishing out a couple of dollars from the little pocket on the inside of the waist band of his running tights. "Here's a bit of seed money to get you started, all right?"

Abraham took the bills and tucked them away underneath his shirt, nodding in thanks. On his way to throw away the empty coffee cups, Harry performed a subtle Freshening Charm on Abraham's belongings, chuckling when he heard Lazarus sneeze three times in a row.

 _Might as well finish my run._ Harry shot a salute back to Abraham and headed off down the Embarcadero, heading toward the ball park. He changed Led Zeppelin for Aerosmith, running in time with Love In An Elevator. _Times like this I really miss Teddy,_ he thought, remembering when the two of them would go for runs together, usually turning it into a competition if not an all-out race. _So, Joe is a real person. All right. I'll have to see if I can track him down myself one of these days._

He was just passing Cupid's Span when a figure darted across the street and started running next to him. Harry glanced over, surprised to see Jacob's assistant Scott. He nodded, the surprise of recognition overcoming the more unpleasant surprise of someone running across the street at him. "Morning," he said, turning down the volume on his running music.

"Morning," Scott said with a friendly smile, matching Harry's pace.

"What brings you out here?"

"Got a place just over there," he said, gesturing vaguely behind them. "I like to get out in the morning and get the blood flowing. I need to be top notch for our Mr Green." Harry snorted in agreement, deciding that not actually saying anything was the safer route. "Saw you chatting to that man before I caught up to you. I thought you were out of the game?" Scott asked, shooting Harry a sideways look.

Harry shrugged. _That's_ _a bit apropos of nothing._ "You stalking me, Andrews?" he asked in his 'Auror Potter' voice.

"Nah. Was surprised to see you there and then talking to a homeless Muggle was all."

"I like to know what's going on in the City. Abraham spends a lot of time outside and hears a lot of news."

"But Muggles? Who cares what they're up to?"

"You never know what someone will say when they think no one's listening. I've found out all sorts of things from people on the street."

"I bet you had your little network of informers all over the place back home," Scott said and something in his tone made Harry glance at him, but he was looking straight ahead as they continued their run.

"I knew a few people, yeah."

"You ever spend much time up in Edinburgh?" Scott asked, making the city sound like it was actually called 'Edinburra'.

"Some."

"You ever run across Foul Ole Ron?"

Harry let out a short bark of laughter. "Everyone runs across Foul Ole Ron, whether they want to or not. He's a legend, that one."

"I remember one year during the Fringe Festival he had a whole bunch of teenagers convinced that he was a descendent of the last true Stuart king."

"I don't doubt it. He looks like a shambler, but he's sharp as a tack." In his dealings with old Ron, he'd often wondered if he was actually a wizard, but he'd respected the man's privacy and hadn't gone looking.

Up ahead, the ballpark loomed and Harry slowed down to a stop. "Well, this is as far as I'm going."

"You sure? You look like you've got some more miles in you yet," Scott said, jogging in place to stay warm.

"Well, I don't get out as much as I used to. I used to sort of be the assistant coach for the cross-country team, but the Dueling Club started to take up more time."

"What about your godson?"

A tingle of alarm shot through him at the mention of Teddy, even if not by name and he made sure his expression didn't change. "He's for the Aurors, so no more time to run with me." He made a show of checking his watch. "I've already been out later that I planned. I need to hustle or I'm going to be late for work."

"Can't have the professor showing up late to his own class! Seeya, Harry!" Scott gave a thumbs-up and jogged off down the pavement, heading towards the ballpark. Harry watched him for a moment, making sure he was well away before jogging slowly in the opposite direction.

 _That was strange for him to show up like that. Doesn't seem to hold a grudge from our duel, at least. Suspicious old Auror indeed,_ he thought, remembering Teddy's admonishment. He found a secluded spot and Apparated home, the sounds of James's howls of unhappiness assaulting his ears the moment he appeared in his lounge.

Heart pounding, he ran up the stairs, calling for Ginny, finding her utterly frazzled as she stood in the middle of the nursery, trying to simultaneously breastfeed Allie and calm James as he clung to her pajama bottoms, pulling them halfway down her legs. Harry swiftly bent and picked up James, bouncing him in his arms as he made soothing noises.

"What's going on?" he asked as James buried his face in his neck, muffling his crying somewhat. "Is he hurt? Are you all right?"

"I don't know. I was feeding Allie and James was on the floor with the cat when he just started carrying on. I thought Stuart had scratched him, but I couldn't find anything on him." Ginny ran a shaky hand through her hair and Harry leaned in to kiss her on one cheek. "Nothing I did would calm him, so I figured he just had to work himself out of it."

Harry kissed his son's soft hair, starting to feel a bit strangled by the boy's arms tight around his neck. "It's all right, you're fine, everybody's here," he whispered as his heart gradually slowed down.

"Daddy," James murmured through a hiccup and it seemed as if his whole body relaxed in Harry's arms.

Ginny still looked concerned as she shifted Allie around to her other breast. "Maybe I should stay home today. Aaron can lead the meeting. I don't _need_ to be there …"

"But you _should_ be there. You know that Aaron's been trying to move in on your territory," Harry said. "Listen, let me take care of our Jamie. I'll take him in the shower with me and we'll see how he is after, all right? You know water always calms him down."

"All right." Ginny stroked her hand down James's dark hair, smiling when he said, "Mummy." She went up on her tiptoes and kissed Harry, making a face when she pulled away. "One of you definitely needs that shower!"

"Thanks. You sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. Just … you know," she said, waving her free hand in a gesture that managed to encompass both parental frustration and helplessness all in one. "Thank you."

Harry winked at her, hoping that his own feeling of helplessness generated by James's cries was well hidden. "Come on, boyo, let's get cleaned up. Mummy says we smell!"

"Smell!" James echoed, his strop seemingly forgotten.

A few minutes later, they were both in the enormous shower, James planted happily on the floor underneath the second shower head while the warm water rained down all around him. He hooted and laughed as he turned his face up to the downpour, making Harry laugh in turn.

 _What is it with you and water?_ he thought as he shampooed his hair, careful to keep one eye on his son. _I hope we haven't done you a disservice or made you something you're not supposed to be._ He thought of Marella the selkie and her husband, Rònan, and Ginny's quest to reunite them. A flush that had nothing to do with the hot water came over him at the memory of making love with Ginny underneath the heavenly softness of the selkie's skin.

James had been the wished-for result and almost from the moment he'd been born, he'd loved the water, becoming quite fussy if he didn't get his nightly bath. Ginny had told her mother about the selkie's help, but she'd just brushed it off. "All babies love baths. They love being cozy and warm. He'll grow out of it," she'd said reassuringly, but Harry was starting to have his doubts.

His hair clean, Harry picked James up, settling him on his hip as he thumbed open the bottle of baby shampoo. "Your turn," he said, working up a decent lather in the boy's thick hair. "Close your eyes! Rinse!" James closed his eyes and stuck his head straight into the shower spray, giggling madly.

"I think we're clean enough for Mummy, don't you?" Out of the shower, Harry used his wand to quickly blast himself dry and wrapped James up in a fluffy towel, carrying him into the bedroom.

"Kitty bath!" James said, pointing at the white cat curled up in the middle of the bed. Stuart looked back at him, blinking his odd-colored eyes and purring his loud purr.

"Oh, no. Kitty bathes himself and if he ever needs a bath, it's not me doing it." Harry pulled on a pair of boxers, getting a look at the time. _Oh dear. No time for breakfast today._

Picking up the still-wrapped child, he went looking for Ginny, finding her settling Allie in his cot. "There's my boys!" she said, taking her towel-wrapped son from Harry, rubbing her nose against his. "Are you all better now?"

"He's fine. Settled right down as usual. I'm sorry, love, but I'm running a bit late. Are you all right with them by yourself?"

"I'll be fine. What happened this morning?" Ginny asked, following him into the bedroom.

"I just wanted to get out for a run. Been a while since I've been running," Harry said, pulling on a shirt and quickly buttoning it.

"Is that right? Where did you go?"

Harry tightened his belt around his waist and shrugged. "Just down the Embarcadero. Nothing unusual."

"Mm hm. And did you happen to stop and chat to anyone? Maybe someone who knows a lot about who, what, when and where?"

Glancing over, he saw that Ginny knew exactly what he'd been up to and he ruefully shook his head. "Fine. I stopped and had a chat with Abraham. I asked him if he knew of an old Native American bloke and he mentioned Joe by name." Avoiding her gaze, he tied his school tie, taking roughly one and a-half times longer than he usually did.

"You didn't believe me?" In the mirror, he saw she'd put on an exaggerated frown and he snorted.

"I believe you. I just wanted to find out what sort of reputation he had, that's all." Tie secure, Harry brushed his fingers through his hair before giving it up as a bad job.

"And what did you find out?" Ginny asked, materializing next to him, comb in hand. Harry took the hint and made another attempt at his hair.

"Abraham said he keeps to himself, mostly. Doesn't cause any trouble." He handed the comb back to her. "Where's James?" he asked, smiling when he saw him curled up around Stuart. "I wonder what got him so worked up?"

Ginny looked at the boy and the cat together, smiling softly. "I don't know, but nothing I did made any difference. Scared the shit out of me."

"Ginny. Language." Harry gave her a teasing grin as she slapped him on the shoulder. He put his watch on, wincing at the time. "I'm going to be late." He leaned in to kiss Ginny on the cheek, surprised when she turned her head at the last second, putting her hands on his arse and drawing him into a lingering kiss.

"Why yes, Mr Potter, I do kiss my husband with that mouth." She smacked him on the bottom. "Get on with you. Brush your teeth, get your shoes on. We'll be fine."

"Do me a favor," Harry said as he went into the bathroom.

"Only one?" Ginny asked, leaning dramatically against the doorframe.

"Summon me the next time you run into this gentleman, okay? If you can."

"Do you think he's dangerous? I _am_ a witch, you know."

"And a bloody good one. You know how I worry about you and the boys." Frustrated with himself, he shook his head as he blobbed toothpaste onto his brush and stuck it into his mouth, brushing a little harder than necessary.

"I know, love. I can't promise I'll be able to, but I'll try, all right?" She looked back out into the bedroom and started pulling off her pajamas. "He's out. I'm going to take the opportunity for a quick shower myself. Have a good day."

Harry admired the sight of his nude wife in the mirror as she got into the shower, turning both shower heads on full blast. _Now that's a sight I'll never get tired of._

XXXX

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" I said, the phrase 'intra-muscular resonance transference' catching my attention and bringing me back to the here and now.

Aaron gave a little sigh and launched into the results of our latest round of tests using magically-augmented acupuncture needles to treat geriatric muscle wasting. I did my best to pay attention, but my mind kept drifting back to the events of the morning.

I kept going over and over the events, wondering if I'd missed some cue from James, motherly guilt giving me a crawly sensation all over. _I was in the rocking chair, nursing Allie. James was rolling around on the floor with the cat and then all hell broke loose._

The memory of his cries, sounding like pain at first and then moving to inconsolable desolation had sent chills down my spine as I tried to search him for any injury while still managing to keep hold of Allie. "Did kitty scratch you?" I asked, checking his face, hands and arms for any scratches and finding none.

James just howled, snot and tears all over his red face as I tried to check him for a possible fever or stomach upset. Allie, responding to his brother's distress, unlatched from my breast, sending milk all over the both of us and started fussing as well, lending his own whimpers to the general cacophony.

I finally gave up and decided to let James work himself out of whatever upset he'd gotten into, trying to at least get Allie nursing again while James tried his level best to climb me. Harry running into the nursery, hair and eyes completely wild, was a welcome sight. I'm not the sort of girl who needs regular rescuing, but once in a while is nice. Harry was so distracted by James that he didn't even notice the fact that I was in complete shambles and covered in my own milk. Thank God for small favors.

"I think we're well suited to proceed with a wider range of subjects," Aaron said, his nasally voice breaking into my thoughts and I pulled my mind away from the chaotic morning.

"Excellent work, everyone. We'll present to Vijay and the board on Friday." I looked directly at Aaron, making sure he knew that I was the one in charge, even though on today of all days I hardly felt like it. "Good job."

Gathering up my papers, I went to my office, my phone buzzing in my pocket. I took it out to see a message from Ben.

 _How's my favorite Doctor Mama?_

 _Ugh, not so great._

 _What's wrong? Can't I leave you alone with those kids for two seconds? Do I need to come up there?_

I sat down in my overly-cushy desk chair and sighed. _Seems like it. Harry went for a run this morning and came back to one kid howling like a bloody Banshee and a wife with her pajama trousers around her knees covered in her own milk!_

 _Oh. Oh dear. What happened? Is everyone all right? I can get on a plane and be there in two hours._

 _No, love, we're fine. I don't know what happened._ I filled him in on the doings of the morning, grinning at his typically over-the-top reactions. _But by the time I dropped them off at Sarah's he was fine. Like nothing had even happened._

 _Huh. No fever, earache, bruises, scratches … nothing?_

 _No. And Harry took him in the shower and he didn't tell me about anything unusual._

 _Maybe he saw something and got scared? A spider or something,_ Ben messaged and I frowned.

 _He's not been frightened of creepy-crawlies before. He loves finding lizards in the park and tries to catch them._ The thought of a legion of bugs in my house made me shudder. I ran a tight ship and had no truck with any pests, mundane or magical. _I'm getting out of here soon, so I'll see how he is in a little bit. I haven't heard anything from Sarah, so I'm sure he's fine. They're both fine. Anyway, enough about my terrible mothering, how're things with you?_

He filled me in on his doings as a single gay man in the bustling metropolis of Los Angeles, bemoaning the fact that he was currently single and all of the men he met lately were entirely too self-centered. _Well, sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince,_ I texted, inserting the frog and crown symbols.

 _Girl, I've been doing a lot more than kissing! Where is he?_ he lamented, treating me to the eggplant and water droplet combo.

 _Ugh! TMI!_ I looked at the time displayed at the top of the screen. _Well, I've been here long enough. I'm going to head out. Work from home day tomorrow!_

 _Fine. Abandon me. Listen, what are we doing for Thanksgiving?_

 _Oh bollocks, that's coming up, isn't it? Evelyn is coming due around that time, so I might not be able to get away._

 _Well, if you have stay local, you can send Harry down. We'll have a great time together!_

 _Hands off my husband, home wrecker!_

 _Moi? Je suis innocent!_ he protested, making me grin.

 _As if. I'll call you later, okay?_

 _TTYL!_ The message was followed by a long string of hearts and I sent back an even longer string before setting down my phone. I took a few minutes to straighten up my desk, trying to put work out of my mind and focus on the upcoming evening with my family. As I was shoving papers into my bag, I suddenly had a thought of what might have happened that upset James.

"Accidental magic," I said out loud, my heart thumping. "He did something and it scared him! That must have been it, I just didn't see it." Relief flowed through me and I nearly sat back down in my office chair. Harry and I had been on the lookout for evidence of magic from him since shortly before his first birthday in February, but we had yet to actually witness him doing anything.

 _He'll need close watching now. Don't need him starting any fires or Vanishing the cat. Maybe I should tell Vijay I need some time off?_ I shook my head at the thought. Right now was definitely not the best time to be taking any time off. My team were getting ready to present the first results of our first investigation into a true merging of magical Healing and Muggle treatment; basically, my whole reason for the crazy idea I'd hatched to become a fully-qualified Muggle doctor all those years ago.

Vijay had been my liaison between the Muggle and magical healing worlds during my schooling and residency, but he'd never been coy about his desire to put me to work for him, going so far as to create my current research position for me—the first one ever as far as I knew. Harry had never said anything negative about my working outside of the home, but my mum had certainly said enough, going so far in her last letter as to suggest hiring a live-in nanny.

 _We don't need the money, but I need something else to do besides being at home all day with two babies._ The memory of standing there completely at a loss of what to do with James came back to me, my face burning with shame. _But maybe if I'd stayed home, I would have known what to do?_ Again, my own mother came to me and I frowned, trying to think of how many small children she would have had to handle at once. _Let's see, Bill was at Hogwarts shortly after I was born, so when I was a baby, Ron was just a little over a year, the twins were three, Percy was five … Charlie was … eight? Nine?_

I shook my head, completely in awe of my mum. _Well, if she could handle all of that, the least I can do is keep two boys and a part-time job going._ Nodding resolutely to myself, I turned off the lights and shut my office door.

Later on that evening, after all of the chaos of coming home and getting everyone fed and settled for the night was over, I felt like I was finally able to relax and snuggled next to Harry on the sofa in front of the telly. He put his arm around me and hugged me close, kissing the top of my head. "All right?" he murmured as the opening credits to Downton Abbey played. We were latecomers to it but utterly addicted since Teddy had gotten us to watch it.

"Yeah. How was your day?"

"Fine. Yours?"

I sighed. "It was all right."

"But?"

"I kept thinking about James."

"Mm, me too. What did Sarah say?" Harry asked, his voice a rumble against my ear.

"Said he was great. I asked her to keep an eye out for any signs of a fever or anything and she said he was fine all day." I fell silent, watching the show but not really paying any attention to it.

"But it's still bothering you," Harry said after several moments of silence.

"I chatted a bit with Ben today."

"That's quite a change of subject. How's he doing?"

"He's good. I was telling him about this morning and he said that maybe James saw a spider or something that scared him," I said. "I thought about it and I think it was accidental magic."

"You think so? Why?" Harry asked, curiosity evident on his face.

I sat up, sweeping my hair behind my ears. "He was very frightened and I didn't see anything wrong and Ben's comment made me think of the possibility. What if he made something happen and it scared him?"

Harry leaned forward, looking excited now. "I wonder if we could coax something out of him?"

"Not with babies that young. Well, unless you want to go throwing him out of a window," I said, remembering Neville's story about his horrible uncle.

"I probably won't feel like that until he's a teenager," he said, making me laugh softly as he pulled me back against him.

We watched the show in companionable silence, drawn into the drama of the lives of Muggles both upstairs and downstairs. "I wonder if that's how it is at the Malfoys'?" I ventured as the servants hustled to do their masters' bidding.

Harry snorted derisively. "Ugh, can you imagine? They're probably all like Lady Mary, running their house-elves ragged."

"You don't think there's a Lady Sybil to humanize them?"

"No," Harry said shortly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

I watched as Lord and Lady Grantham announced Lady Cora's pregnancy, my mind turning to my mothering skills. _Lady Cora will hire a nanny. It simply isn't done for the upper crust to raise their own children._ "Harry, do you think I'm a crap mum?"

"What? What brought that on?"

I sighed, shifting against him. "I was quite literally caught with my trousers down this morning, wasn't I? Couldn't even figure out why one son was crying and manage to keep the other one quiet. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't come home."

"Gin, you're not a crap mum. Kids get difficult sometimes and you just do the best you can," Harry said, rubbing my arm. It felt nice but did nothing to soothe my conscience.

"But my mum had four kids at home three and under and she did fine. She did great, in fact." I sighed again. "Maybe we should hire a nanny."

"A nanny? Who said anything about hiring a nanny?"

"Mum. In her last letter. I might not have told you about that part."

"Why does she think we need a nanny?"

"She's not too keen on me going back to work."

"It's just part-time."

 _At the office,_ I thought to myself. Technically, I was only supposed to be working in the office twice a week with another day working from home, but I definitely put in more time than that, scheduling result reviews and remote conferences when the boys were napping. "Well, apparently even part-time is too much for Mum."

"Well, I'm not having some stranger in my house with my children, so she can just— Well, never mind what she can just do. She can just … deal with it, yeah?"

I sat back up, surprised at how agitated Harry was getting and I was starting to regret even bringing it up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, blowing out a breath. "No, love, it's fine. I just … I just don't like her trying to dictate how we should behave."

"And you don't want a stranger in our house."

"And I don't want a stranger in our house," Harry agreed. "You're a great mum. Definitely the best one I've ever known." He smiled at me and reached out, stroking his thumb down my cheek. I leaned in closer, meeting his lips with mine in a kiss that started out soft, gradually building up in intensity.

I'd managed to get the top three buttons of his shirt undone when we heard wails coming from James's room. Faster than thought, I Apparated to his room, the dim light of the nightlight showing me my boy standing in his cot, clutching the top railing. Stuart the cat paced back and forth in front of it, adding his anxious meows to the noise.

Just as I was lifting James out of the cot, Harry appeared next to me. "What's wrong?" He waved his hand and the room was suddenly as bright as day, making James bury his face in my neck as he continued to howl.

"I don't know!" I struggled to keep my own sense of panic down, desperately searching the room for what might have caused James's distress. I didn't see anything obvious. Nothing was moved, there was no rat tail wiggling from underneath the furniture. "Check for anything out of the ordinary," I told Harry as I tried to pry James's arms from around my neck.

Harry got down on all fours, looking underneath the cot, changing table and chest of drawers while I laid James down on the changing table, keeping up a constant stream of reassuring sounds as tears continued to roll down his red face. "Mummy's going to check you over, all right?" I carefully got him out of his teddy bear-covered pajamas, looking carefully at his pale skin, checking for any red marks or bruises and finding none.

Finished checking the room, Harry joined me at the changing table. "Is he all right?" he asked anxiously. "I didn't find anything."

James's cries had settled down to sobs and hiccups as he reached for me. "Mummummum," he murmured when I picked him up. In the mirror on top of the chest of drawers, I saw him reach out for Harry, putting his fingers all over his glasses. "Daddy."

"Yes, love, we're all here," I said, stroking his bare back. I knew he'd likely need a bath to calm down and didn't figure there was any point in trying to wrestle him back into his pajamas. "What happened? Did you have a nightmare?" I asked, wishing he was old enough to tell us what was wrong.

"Allie," James said, pointing to the doorway.

"Allie's fine, he's asleep," Harry said, rubbing the back of the baby's tiny hand with his thumb.

"Allie!" Insistent now, James pointed at the doorway. I looked at Harry and shrugged, carrying James into the other room, trailed by Harry and the cat.

"See? He's asleep," I said, leaning over Allie's cot to show James his sleeping brother. Stuart went up on his hind legs, trying to stick his face in between the slats. _It's a miracle he managed to sleep through all that,_ I thought, thankful I didn't have to deal with the both of them at once.

James nodded in satisfaction and stuck a finger in his mouth, his upset already forgotten. "Did he have a nightmare or something?" Harry asked, this voice quiet in the dim room.

"I don't know. Maybe? I didn't think children that young could have nightmares. I'll have to ask Ben and see if there's anything we can do." I bounced James in my arms and he looked at me, hazel eyes serious. "Bath?" He nodded affirmatively and I headed off to the second bathroom.

Harry watched from the doorway as I started the bathwater. His shirt was still half-unbuttoned, reminding me of what we'd been starting before James had his fright. He still looked anxious and I smiled reassuringly at him. "We'll be fine, all right?"

"Yeah, all right. Um, let me know if you need anything."

"I will."

"I'm just going to check James's room one more time."

"Okay."

"But I can help you if you need me."

I took off James's nappy, Vanishing it and shut off the water in the tub. "Harry, he's fine. I think it was just a bad dream. The bath will settle him and he'll go back to sleep." I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, trying not to squish the baby between us too badly. "Go on. I can handle at least this much."

XXXX

 _Goddamn sheep counting never did work for me,_ Harry thought, flat on his back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Next to him, Ginny slept the sleep of the emotionally wrung out, but where she was exhausted, Harry was wired.

 _I checked every single thing I could think of in that room. Practically tossed it old-school._ While Ginny had been calming James with a bath, Harry had tasked himself with searching his son's room, looking for anything that might have caused a fright.

He'd used Revealing Charms to look for anything magical, a sharp eye out for something akin to that ill-wish he'd found years ago when he and Ginny were looking for a dryad. Nothing literally jumped out at him and he resorted to good old-fashioned detective work. He took all of the books out of the bookcase, riffling through all of the pages. All of the impossibly tiny clothes came out of the chest of drawers and were shaken out before being folded and put back.

Harry took the bedding and stuffed animals out of the cot, carefully feeling with the sensitive tips of his fingers for any sharp objects James might have scratched or poked himself with. When the bedding turned out clear, he turned his attention to the mattress, running his fingers over the whole surface before magically removing the inner material and putting it back. Stuart sat on the floor, tail curled around his feet as he watched Harry, looking like he was actually paying attention.

He'd just gotten the room back in order when Ginny came in with a sleeping James in fresh pajamas. Wordlessly, she put him in the cot and looked down at him, expression pensive. Harry put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, letting out a long breath. "All right?" he asked, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

"Yeah. I just wish I knew what was going on with him. I'm a Healer and a doctor, but I don't have the slightest clue what's wrong," she said, quietly frustrated. "No fever, no injuries and he can't really tell me if he dreamed of anything." She looked up at him, a wry smile on her lips. "Did you find anything in here?"

Harry knew better than to protest that he hadn't done anything and just shook his head. "No magical devices, nothing in the bedding, no bugs, mice or rats. Nothing in the closet, nothing in the drawers, nothing in the mattress."

"Thorough."

He shrugged, knowing it had been overkill, but he'd do it all over again without a moment's thought. They stood watching their sleeping child, Harry feeling like a tightly-strung bow, ready to snap at any moment.

Ginny crouched down next to the cat, posed like he was on guard and stroked his head between his ears. "Are you going to watch him tonight?" she asked, Stuart purring in response. She stood up and took Harry's hand. "Come on, let's go to bed. We won't do any good standing here staring at him."

 _But I'll know he's safe,_ Harry thought as he followed her out of the nursery room, excusing himself to shut the house down. Downstairs, he shut off the telly, turned out all of the lights and renewed the Unbreakable charms on the front, back and side doors, along with all of the windows, paying special attention to the French doors that led out to the back garden. _The Blood Seal should be redone soon. I'll message Teddy and get him over here._

As satisfied as he could get, he headed upstairs to undress for bed, taking a side trip to check on Allie and James once more before finally sliding in next to Ginny. "All set?" she asked in the quiet darkness.

"Yeah."

Ginny settled her head on his shoulder, sliding her hand across his chest. "I'm sure it was just a bad dream or a bit of accidental magic," she murmured, sounding like she was already half asleep.

"You're probably right," Harry agreed, putting his hand over hers as she dropped off into sleep.

Still not able to sleep and frustrated with his inability to figure out what was going on with his son, Harry quietly got out of bed, careful not to disturb Ginny, and headed downstairs to their shared office. He stood in front of the large book case, crammed with a startling array of magical and medical texts, selecting one at random and sitting down with it at his desk. _Something's not right, though. I can almost feel it._


	5. Chapter 5

The mobile phone on my bedside table chimed in its politely insistent way, waking me out of a sound sleep. Instantly alert, I picked it up, noting the time. _2 a.m. Why do babies always pick the most inconvenient times?_

"Hello? Jacob?" I said, clearing my throat. Next to me, Harry sat up, settling his glasses on his nose.

"Ginny! Evelyn says it's time!" Jacob said, clearly trying to sound urbane and calm and failing completely.

"All right. Have you timed her contractions?" I asked, making sure to sound calm and in control. In the best of circumstances, Jacob could be very excitable and the last thing I needed was him making Evelyn any more nervous than she already likely was.

"Um, no?"

"Okay, well, I need an idea of how far things have progressed. So I need you to work with Evelyn and find out how far apart her contractions are, all right?" I got out of bed, conscious of Harry's eyes following me as I pulled some clothes out of my drawers. "Have her waters broken?"

"No … I don't know. I don't think so," he said, sounding more and more panicked.

"It's all right. How long ago did the contractions start?" I shimmied out of my pajama bottoms and awkwardly pulled on a pair of jeans, keeping the phone between my shoulder and ear.

"She started feeling off around lunchtime. Did we wait too long?"

"No," I said, making my voice as reassuring as I could. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Is her mother with her?"

"Yes. She's with her now."

"Okay, very good. See you in a few minutes, all right?"

"All right." Jacob hung up on me and I shook my head as I pulled off my pajama top, wrestling my unruly bosom into a bra and pulling a shirt on over.

"That was Jacob, I gather?" Harry asked, still in the bed.

"Yes. Evelyn's started her labor but it's early yet." I went into the toilet to pee and put my hair in a ponytail, coming out a moment later. "I'm going to go over anyway because you know Jacob won't rest until I'm there." I leaned over and kissed Harry on his scratchy cheek. "Can you handle the boys?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll get a message to Sarah and ask if she can watch them today. You were supposed to be work from home today, right?" He followed me out of the room as I headed down toward our garage-cum-lab where I kept all of my Healer's kit.

I sighed at the reminder of the day I'd had planned. "Yes. I'll have to let the team know that I'll have to reschedule the conference." I had just laid my hand on the doorknob when I heard wails coming from James's room.

My heart constricted in my chest and I looked at Harry, seeing my own expression of fear and dread mirrored on his face. In seconds we were both in James's room where we saw our son in what looked like a full-blown panic, standing up in his cot, red-faced and covered in tears as he screamed in fright. "Check Allie," I said to Harry as I bent to pick up James, pushing the cat out of the way with my foot.

James clung to me with all of his strength as he wrapped his arms and legs around me, practically strangling me. I shushed and stroked his back as he buried his face in my chest, muffling his cries. "Shh, baby, shh, it's just a dream, all right? Mummy's here," I murmured over and over, trying to reassure myself as much as him. Harry came back in and stood on the other side of James, wrapping his arms around the both of us, adding his soothing sounds to mine.

"Allie's all right?" I asked when James started to quiet down. Through trial and error, we'd learned that the quickest way to get him soothed was to double-team him as he got over his initial fright.

"Yeah, amazingly enough."

"Thank goodness for small favors." My phone in my pocket started chiming again and I groaned, handing James off to Harry, hoping he wouldn't start up again. "Jacob, I'm on my way. I'll be there in a few minutes, all right?" I said, interrupting his greeting and hanging up on him.

James looked at me with his big eyes and I grabbed a tissue from the changing table, using it to wipe his face as Harry continued to make soothing noises, his nose buried in James's hair. "Mummy has to go for a little while, all right? You and Allie will stay here with Daddy and then go see Sarah."

"Mummy," he echoed, a small frown on his face. "Mummy stay."

"No, sweetheart. Mummy has to go help another lady have a baby. Daddy will be here," I said, quickly realizing that that explanation was just not going to fly with him as he screwed up his little face and started crying again, reaching for me.

"No Daddy! Mummy!" he wailed, breaking my heart in two.

"No, my darling, Daddy's here, stay with Daddy. Mummy will be back before you know it," I said, taking him back from Harry and holding his shuddering body close to mine. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, desperately hoping that the motion would calm him down. In the middle of all of this, my phone chimed again.

"Here, give him to me. Get your kit and go," Harry said, taking James from me, practically prying his arms loose from around my neck. James held his hands out to me and my nose and eyes stung with incipient tears. Harry started working his tee shirt off, letting it fall to the floor. "I'll get him in the shower and settled down, all right?"

The sensation of being torn in two directions has never been my favorite and I took a deep breath, hoping to calm my own emotions while my son continued to sound like his world was ending. "Come on, Jamie boy, let's go get a shower, all right?" Harry crooned, an edge of desperation in his voice.

"No! Mummy!" James shouted, his face redder than I'd ever seen it.

"Harry—"

"No, love. Evelyn needs you. I can handle things here. Get your kit and go," Harry repeated as he walked out of the room. Feeling completely helpless, I watched him disappear into our bedroom, James's wails sounding only a little fainter but no less heart-piercing.

My phone made another sound and I glanced down at it, Jacob's text message on the screen. _Are you coming?_

"Bugger." _Be right there,_ I sent back. Taking a deep breath, I checked on Allie, verifying that he was still blessedly asleep. _I'll message Harry and ask him to bring him to me at Jacob's later on._ I thought about sticking my head in the master bath. I could hear water running and Harry singing You Shook Me All Night Long of all things to James. He sounded like he was still sobbing, but no longer at quite the level he had been and I didn't want to start him up again, so I went downstairs and grabbed my kit, feeling like a thief leaving the scene of the crime.

XXX

 _She was a fast machine,_

 _She kept her motor clean,_

 _She was the best damn woman I had ever seen,_ Harry sang in his best Brian Johnson growl, bouncing James on his hip, his voice echoing on the tile walls of the shower as the water beat down on them both.

When they first got in, Harry had thought that this would be the time that water didn't soothe James as he continued carrying on, crying for Ginny in a voice that sounded as if he were lost in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, sending chills down Harry's spine. Gradually, the water worked its magic and James started to calm, patting Harry's cheek with his chubby hand as he sang to him.

 _Gin must have gone by now,_ he thought, changing it up and launching into Dancing Queen, swinging his son around in crazy loops in the expansive shower, heart lightening when he started to giggle. _Such a fright at first, but soon forgotten. Is it a nightmare? Night terrors? Accidental magic?_ This behavior had been going on for nearly three weeks now and one night, unable to go back to sleep, Harry had found himself in front of his computer, deep in the rabbit hole of parental message boards.

 _Talk about something nightmare-inducing._ Ginny had found him in the office, dark save for the light from his computer screen. "What are you doing?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the screen. "Oh, love, no. That's bollocks. You'll drive yourself mad reading that stuff."

"I was just doing a bit of research. We're hardly the first parents this has happened to," Harry said, a little embarrassed to be caught out by her.

"No, we're definitely not, but no one on those knows what they're talking about. It's all speculation and gluten-free, isn't it?"

"There's one mum that swears burning a certain candle stopped her son's night terrors," Harry said, immediately feeling foolish when Ginny folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really? And she's managed to not burn her house down? Did she say where we can get one of these miracle candles?"

Harry sighed and closed the lid of his laptop, pulling Ginny down into his lap. "No. But if all it took was some candles, I'd buy fifty of the damn things."

"Me too," Ginny sighed, resting her head against his bare chest. "He'll grow out of them. It's just a phase."

"We hope." Harry put his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers, breathing in the scent of her shampoo. The tightness in his chest started to ease, making him feel like he could finally breathe easy for the first time since James had started crying and screaming two hours ago. _I'm not so sure it's accidental magic anymore,_ he thought as he got back into bed with Ginny, pulling her close and hoping for sleep to come.

They had thought they were out of the woods when three nights passed without a single peep from James once he went to bed and had just started to relax until tonight with this latest episode. _And now it's like it never happened._ James burbled happily in his arms while Stuart sat calmly on the tile floor of the bathroom, tail wrapped around his feet. Harry had noticed that the cat seemed to have appointed himself as James's protector and was typically underfoot when the boy had his episodes, his anxious yowling adding to the chaos.

"One more?" he asked, grinning when James echoed "More!" _I saw fireworks from the freeway, behind closed eyes I could not make them go away,_ he sang, The Remedy springing to mind. Finally convinced this latest upset was over, Harry shut off the water, mentally bracing himself for more upset.

"All right, let's get dry again, shall we?" Harry quickly blew himself dry with warm air from his wand, using a gentler stream on James, grinning when the baby laughed and tried to grab the wand away from him. "How many showers have I had this week, hm?" he asked his son, not really expecting an answer. "Whatever it is, I won't need one when I get up in three hours to go to work!"

After getting James back into his cot, Harry checked on Allie and picked up his mobile, tapping out a quick message to Ginny. _All is well here. How are things over there?_

A moment later, his phone chimed with her return message. _Things are progressing well. I'll be here for a while yet. Can you bring Allie to me when you go to work?_

 _Of course. Anything else?_

 _No. Sorry to leave you with James like that._

 _Nothing you could do, love. He's fine._

 _Love you._

 _Love you, too._

Harry set the all-too-convenient device back on his bedside table, feeling strangely bereft of Ginny's presence. _She's just across town and I'll see her in a few hours. I'm getting weepy in my old age._ He went into James's bedroom once more to reassure himself that the boy was sleeping peacefully, Stuart curled up next to him. While he was in there, Harry looked around the room, searching for signs of accidental magic. _No scorch marks, nothing moved, nothing that doesn't belong in here._

Rubbing the vigilant cat's ears, Harry left the room, heading down to the office, certain that he wouldn't get anymore sleep tonight. At his desk, he picked up the latest letter from Molly. Ginny had written to her, asking about early signs of accidental magic when they were little and Molly had come through with detailed accounts of each of her seven children.

Unsurprisingly, the twins had shown their talents for pyrotechnics early on, constantly setting off little explosions that unnerved everyone at first, but gradually wore them down to weary acceptance. Ron, it turned out, had a teddy that he could hardly bear to be parted from, especially when Ginny had gotten hold of it. _I was trying to get Ron down for a nap and he was in a right strop that I had put his teddy in with you. I'd charmed it to be warm so you'd think I was still holding you and Ron was having absolutely none of that and before I knew what had happened, the teddy flew across the room and hit me right in the face!_

 _Thankfully, Ron stopped crying the minute the old thing fell into his cot which was a good thing because you started right up!_ Harry set the letter aside, the vision of a raggedy old teddy sailing through the air making him grin. _If only it were something like that._

XXX

I stood in the middle of Jacob's enormous kitchen, patiently waiting for the kettle to boil so I could make a much-needed cup of tea. Just as it started to whistle, Scott walked in.

"Oh, bless you. Someone who knows how to make a proper cuppa," he said, setting an empty mug next to mine and dropping in a tea bag. "It's all coffee with these Americans."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but the last time I was in London, it was positively riddled with Starbucks and Costas," I said, filling both of our mugs with the hot water.

"Colonial influence for the weak-minded masses," he said with a disarming grin.

"I suppose you'll think me weak-minded then as I do occasionally indulge in an altogether too frothy coffee drink." I dunked my tea bag up and down several times as Scott sputtered and backtracked.

"Well, present company excepted, of course. How's it going in there?" he asked, nodding toward the stairway that went up to the first floor. "Shouldn't you be with her?"

"She's resting right now. Jacob jumped the gun a bit and called me early. She hasn't really started active labor yet, but it shouldn't be too much longer." I glanced at the kitchen clock and saw it was already coming up on six in the morning. "Harry will be bringing Allie soon," I said, the thought of being reunited with my baby making my full breasts ache.

"You have two boys, right?" Scott said, dumping sugar into his tea.

"Yes. James and Albus," I said, doctoring my own tea to my liking.

"Albus? That's unusual."

I shrugged. "Dumbledore meant a lot to Harry, so he wanted to honor him. I got to choose his second name though, so I picked Gideon for my late uncle."

"And James?"

"Sirius, for Harry's godfather."

Scott stirred his tea thoughtfully before taking a sip. "Sirius? That's the one that was in Azkaban, right?"

"Yes. Poor man. I'm afraid he wasn't quite the same when he escaped, but he did his best to help Harry in his way." Once, when we were cleaning up the library in number 12, we'd found some old pictures of Sirius and what must have been his brother taken some time in their teens. My heart broke to see the young man Sirius used to be before twelve long years in prison ruined his beauty. _But not his spirit._

"But you and Harry have been married for a while, haven't you? You're just now having children?" Scott asked, crossing his arms and leaning one hip against the gleaming worktop.

"Well, at the time I was still in the middle of medical school, so it wasn't really the right time to try and have children. As it was, we had a bit of a hard time getting James," I said, remembering the troubles we'd gone through.

"Oh? What sort of hard times?"

"Tell me you're not interested in the getting of babies yet! I'd think at your age you're more concerned about avoiding them!" I said, making Scott laugh out loud, filling the kitchen with the warm sound.

"I'll be honest that biology's always been a bit of a hobby of mine. For a while I thought about going into Healing, but here I am." He spread his arms wide, encompassing the well-appointed kitchen.

I smiled back at him, finding his laughter infectious. "Oh, so you won't go getting squeamish on me, then? Well, if you know anything about biology at all, then you know it's just about a miracle anyone ever gets pregnant and sometimes staying pregnant can be even more difficult."

"So which was it with you?"

"I had trouble with the staying pregnant part," I said, memories of throwing vials full of pregnancy detecting potion against the wall in a helpless rage flooding me.

"What did you do? You have James, so you did something. Muggle treatment?" Scott asked, the very image of sympathy.

"No, no Muggle treatments. Are you familiar with selkies at all?"

"The water creatures that shed their skins to walk on land? Aye, they're well known at home."

"Scotland, of course. Anyway, a few years ago, I did a favor for one and she returned it."

Scott looked keenly interested and he cocked his head to one side. "How? I thought they weren't able to use magic."

"They don't use it because they _are_ magic. She lent us her skin," I said, imagining that I could smell the wild scents of the salt water and clean wind right there in the kitchen. My fingers positively itched to feel that one-of-a-kind sleekness of Marella's skin and the thought of making love with Harry on it once more brought a rush of heat to my belly.

"That must have been one hell of a favor," Scott said with a low whistle. "Selkies guard their skins very carefully. What about Albus? Did you need any help with him?"

"No, Allie came about all by himself. That's pretty common actually. When I was in training, one of the senior Healers at St Mungo's likened it to priming the pump." I covered my embarrassment by taking a sip of tea, hoping that he'd think my pink cheeks were from the heat of the drink.

"Well, whatever works, I suppose," he said, giving me that disarming smile again. "You have a godson as well?"

 _My, my, Mr Andrews. Done your research, have you?_ "Yes, Teddy. He's Harry's godson, I'm more his godmother by association. He gave us a pretty good preview of the teenage years, so I feel we're prepared for whatever James and Allie throw at us."

I was going to go on, but Scott held up a finger and got a faraway look in his eyes. "Someone's at the door."

"Oh, that'll be Harry with Allie!" I set down my cup on the worktop and followed Scott to the front door, practically dancing in anticipation as he invited Harry and Allie past the Blood Seal on the threshold. "There's my boy!" I said, taking the drowsy baby out of Harry's arms as he set down the pack-and-play and capacious bag on the polished foyer floor.

"I think I've got everything," Harry said as he kissed my cheek. He looked tired and I knew that he hadn't gone back to sleep after calming James.

"Good to see you again, Harry," Scott said, shaking his hand. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?"

"No, thanks. I've got to get on to work." Harry looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised to see you down here. I expected you to be with Evelyn."

"Jacob jumped the gun and called me much earlier than necessary. She's having a bit of a nap. Her mum and Jacob are with her." I kissed the top of Allie's head. "I'm going to feed this one and then I'll see how things are. It's about time for her to walk around a bit." Glancing at Scott, I pulled Harry a little to the side. "How's James?"

"Fine. He's with Sarah and happy as a clam."

"No more … ?"

"No," he said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear as relief pulsed through me. He ran a thumb across my cheek. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Of course!" I said, mustering a bit of bravado. I reached out and straightened his tie as was my habit. "Are _you_ going to be all right?"

Harry let out a jaw-cracking yawn and kissed me on the cheek again. "Professor Potter, a hundred percent!" His watch chimed and he groaned. "I've really got to get going. Let me know if you need me to pick up James, all right?"

"Of course."

Harry nodded to Scott and adjusted the satchel slung across his chest. "Scott. Tell Jacob I hope everything goes well."

"I will," Scott said, nodding back in that way men had.

Allie started to fuss in my arms and I felt the tell-tale sensation of my milk starting to let down. "Well, I'll see you later, love. I'm about to make a mess over here." Harry took his leave and I headed upstairs to the laying-in room, unbuttoning my top on the way up. Jacob raised his eyebrows when I sat down in one of the chairs in the room and put Allie to my breast, but he had good grace to not say anything. Evelyn's mother, Glenda, looked up from her knitting and smiled, leaning in for a closer look at Allie.

"How is she?" I asked, seeing that Evelyn was still dozing. "Have the contractions started coming any closer?"

"She hasn't said, but she was shifting around a bit a little while ago," Jacob said, holding his wife's hand.

"All right. I'll have a look-see in a bit and probably get her up to walk around a little," I said, shifting Allie to a more comfortable position.

"How old is he?" Glenda asked, motioning to the baby at my breast.

"He'll be six months in a couple of weeks," I said, smoothing the fine dark hair away from his forehead.

"That's such a lovely age. Is he your first?"

"No, James was first. He'll be two in February." I detached my son from one breast, switching him over to the other one, holding in my sigh of relief as the pressure in my breasts abated. We chatted quietly while Allie nursed, all of us focused on the still-dozing Evelyn. _You won't be asleep much longer,_ I thought as I moved the full baby to my shoulder, rubbing his back to coax a burp from him.

Glenda took him from me once he was sorted, allowing me to get myself back together and I gently woke Evelyn. "Is the baby here yet?" she asked groggily, eyes searching out her husband.

"Not yet, love. You have some work ahead of you still. How are you feeling?" I asked, helping her turn over. I took a moment to make sure that the baby was still head down and hadn't decided to turn cartwheels. In my kit, I grabbed the small bottle of lube and applied it generously to my fingers and Evelyn, apologizing for the cold. "All right, Mum. Let's see where we are," I said, putting aside all modesty as I gauged how far dilated she was.

XXX

Attending a birth always left me with a strange combination of exhaustion and exhilaration and tonight was no different as I bid goodbye to Evelyn and Jacob, their brand-new little girl cradled against Evelyn's breast. They wore the amazed/terrified/excited expressions of all new parents and Jacob thanked me profusely, deliriously promising to erect a statue in my honor in his front garden.

"That's very sweet, Jacob, but it's hardly necessary. You would honor me best by taking care of your wife and daughter, all right?" I said, holding both of his hands in mine. He nodded, seeming to blanch a little at the word "daughter" and I hugged him, surprised by the strength in his return hug.

"Thank you so much, Ginny, for keeping them both safe," he said when we drew apart, his eyes shiny with tears. Even with the pain-blocking spell, giving birth was hard work and Evelyn's groans of effort had unnerved him, peeling back his urbane, self-assured exterior.

"You were both brilliant. Now, don't hesitate to call me if you need me, all right? Make sure Evelyn eats a little something tonight and listen to Glenda—she knows what she's about." I had spent the weeks up to the birth coaching Evelyn on all of the newborn minutiae and preparing for breastfeeding, but I knew as well as anyone that the first few hours were wracked with anxiety and that she wouldn't really remember anything we'd talked about until the next day, but with her mother there, I didn't worry too much. "I'm going to come by tomorrow afternoon, so I'll see you then."

"Yes, of course," Jacob said, taking a deep breath and regaining his composure. He escorted me to the grand foyer, pausing by the ornate front door. "I suppose you want to get home to your own husband and babies. Tell Harry I appreciate him lending you to us."

 _Harry doesn't dictate my life,_ I thought rebelliously, but I smiled. "I certainly will. Good night, Dad," I said, pleased to see his cheeks turn pink as I Apparated home, appearing in our entranceway as usual, dropping the tote bag with my Healer's kit by the door.

"Hello?" I called, walking into the darkened lounge. "Is anyone still awake?" I saw dim light coming from the office and headed towards it, absently kicking aside a cat toy.

"Gin?" Harry said, standing up from his desk chair and stretching his arms high over his head. "How'd it go? Hungry?"

I wrapped my arms around him, eager to feel his body against mine. "It went really well. They had a girl, but they haven't decided on a name yet. Evelyn was a champ. Jacob was … Jacob."

Harry chuckled, the sound reverberating through my head as I rested it against his chest. "Jacob will always be Jacob. Can I get you anything?" he asked, running his hands over my back, digging his thumbs into my sore neck muscles.

"Mmm, more of that," I purred, lifting my face up to his to capture his lips in a soft kiss. "What time is it?" I whispered.

"Just about midnight."

"I've been up for almost twenty-four hours. How are the boys?"

"Fine. James missed you, but nothing …" he said, trailing off with a shrug.

I let out a long sigh. "Maybe we're past it, then."

"Maybe," Harry said, eyes troubled. We'd each been occupied with trying to find a reason for James's episodes within our respective fields of expertise and I knew that he'd been spending a lot of time in his decidedly strange library.

"It's just a thing that happens sometimes," I said, smoothing the gray-streaked hair at his temple.

Harry grunted noncommittally and kissed me again. "So, hungry?"

"No. Jacob's house-elves kept us fed. There is something I want though," I said, reaching for the belt on his jeans.

"Oh? What's that?" he asked, the very picture of innocence as his hands snuck underneath my top, his fingertips gliding along the sensitive skin of my back.

"I want you to take me to bed," I whispered, standing up on my tiptoes to capture his lips with mine once more as a warm pool of desire rippled in my belly, sending prickling tingles all along my nerve endings.

"You always come home from a birth so randy," Harry said, sliding his lips along my jaw.

"I've never heard you complain, unless you're complaining now?" I managed to get his belt undone, the old leather pliant in my hands.

"You coming home randy is something I'll never complain about." Harry gathered me up and before I knew it, I was trapped in the breathless squeeze of Apparation before coming back out, landing on our bed with a bouncing giggle.

Trapping my wrists above my head with one hand, Harry smothered me in kisses, the rough prickles of the mustache and goatee he still wore adding another level of sensation as his other hand went to work on the buttons of my shirt. Buttons conquered, he swept the flat of his hand over the skin of my belly, teasing at the bottom edge of my decidedly utilitarian bra. _Oh, I miss the days when I wasn't feeding children with these,_ I thought as his lips traveled down my neck to the valley between my breasts.

I had his shirt rucked up around his shoulders, reveling in the sensation of the soft skin of his back against my palms, his voice a sweet growl as he whispered naughty things in my ear. He'd worked his hand into my jeans and knickers and I was teetering on the edge of the cliff, ready for Harry to push me over when James started wailing, sounding absolutely terrified.

Harry vaulted off of me and sprinted down the hallway, his steps virtually soundless on the carpet, leaving me to follow, all thoughts of romance shattered by my son's heartrending cries. In James's room, I saw Harry had completely discarded his shirt and held James against his chest clad only in his nappy, the skin-to-skin contact being one of the things we'd read about for soothing night terrors.

Bouncing up and down, Harry shushed and rubbed as James continued to howl, body stiff and arms wound tight around Harry's neck. I suffered a brief moment of vertigo as I thought that James was having a seizure before rushing forward, taking him out of Harry's arms and clutching him to my shirtless breast. As he'd done before, Harry put his arms around us both, sandwiching our screaming child between us as we fruitlessly rocked and shushed.

"Mummummummum," James sobbed, big hazel eyes focused on me as tears rolled down his red cheeks.

"Mummy's here, baby, Mummy and Daddy are both here," I murmured, working hard to keep the panic out of my voice. Harry's deeper voice joined mine and I thought we were starting to make some headway when James closed his eyes and stiffened in my arms, mouth open in a soundless scream.

"Oh God! Oh Harry! He's having a seizure!" My heart thumped in my throat for an eternity before James opened his eyes again, the sheer terror in them agonizing to see.

"Do we need to go to hospital?" he asked, fear like I'd never heard in his voice.

"I don't know! I—bloody cat!" I shoved Stuart aside with my foot as his yowls threatened to top James's. A fitful crying came from Allie's room and a wave of helpless frustration hit me.

"I've got him." Harry left me with James, still crying disconsolately as the cat wound around my legs, threatening to trip me up. Not knowing what else to do, I sat down in the antique rocking chair, hoping that the motion would bring my baby some relief from whatever was doing this to him. My eyes roamed around the room, looking for anything that would indicate that a burst of uncontrolled, accidental magic was the cause of his distress, but not a thing was out of place.

I caught a flash of white out of the corner of my eye as Stuart ran out of the room. _Good,_ I thought uncharitably as Harry came in with Allie who wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as James. Upon the sight of his little brother, James added "Allie" to his litany of "Mum" and "Daddy", reaching a new level of distress.

"They're going to feed off of each other," I said, despairing of ever getting James to settle down. "I'll take him into the bath," I said, struggling to get out of the rocking chair while keeping hold of James who had started to squirm.

"Can we give them anything? A Calming Potion?" Harry asked, wrestling off Allie's onesie for that vital skin-to-skin soothing.

"No. There isn't one that's completely safe for babies their ages," I said as exhausted exasperation filled me and I tried very hard not to be short with my husband.

Completely unfazed by my statement, he threw out another useless suggestion. "Cheering Charm?"

"Harry, no! You can't use those things on babies, especially if they're this upset!" I said, the last thread of my patience snapping with an almost audible _ping!_ "I'll take him in the bath. The water will calm him down."

"Gin, what if it doesn't?" Harry asked, giving voice to one of my deepest fears.

Allie and James's cries went on, acting like a saw against my frayed nerves as I left the room, nearly tripping over the cat in the doorway. "Bloody animal!" I shouted, aiming a clumsy kick in his direction, completely missing him as he nimbly jumped over my foot. As he jumped, something fell out of his mouth and landed on the carpet in front of me and James stopped crying.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry ran, as quiet as a shadow along the Embarcadero, the chill morning air like knives in his lungs. He headed straight for the Ferry Building, reasonably sure that he would find Abraham and Lazarus curled in their blankets. He easily could have Apparated right there, but he wanted the time to think that the run afforded him.

 _That stone … Gin said James found it in the park and showed it to that old man … Joe. Abraham should know where I can find this old bastard. And if he doesn't … well …_

The abrupt cessation of James's panicked cries had left Harry with a ringing in his ears as he and Ginny stared down at what Stuart had spat out. It was smooth and round and looked like quartz, though it was currently glowing a vibrant blue color, pulsing in a way that Harry imagined mimicked the beat of a heart.

Ginny knelt down, reaching her hand out to it and Harry kicked it out of her reach with his bare foot. "Don't touch it, love. We don't know what it is," he said, watching as the cat batted it closer to James.

"It's the rock that James found at the playground. Just a piece of quartz, but …" Ginny paused for a moment, frowning.

"But what?"

"But that was when I first met Joe. James handed it to him and he said it was a good rock." Ginny looked up at him, expression uncertain. "And he said something about never knowing when you'd need a good rock."

"He said that? And he touched it? You're certain?" Harry asked and Ginny nodded, eyes big in her face.

"Yes. James gave it to him, then he gave it back to James who gave it to me. Is Joe a wizard? Did he curse the stone?" Harry looked at James, relieved that he was no longer crying, but instead reaching toward the pulsating stone on the carpet. In his arms, Allie had quieted as well, but didn't show the same fascination with the stone that James did.

All of Harry's instincts screamed at him to blast the rock so smithereens, but he delayed, trying to gauge what he felt in his old Auror tattoo. He didn't want to approach it too closely while holding Allie, so he turned and went into James's room, setting the quiet baby in the cot. Wand out, he approached the stone, noting a low-level buzzing making the skin of his phoenix feather tattoo crawl. Holding on to James, Ginny watched as he went down on his haunches to get a closer look at it.

"Can you tell anything?" she asked, sounding anxious. "I feel a bit of a tingle in my tattoo."

"Me, too." Harry squinted at it, prodding it with his wand, almost disappointed when no arc of electricity or power passed between the two. A Detect Magic showed that there was indeed magic imbued into it, but not what it was, save that it wasn't a curse. Stuart sat next to it, purring like a motorboat, a look of feline satisfaction on his face. He looked up at Ginny. "You don't sense anything? Um, hear … anything?"

"No, nothing," she said after a moment of silence.

Harry nodded and set his wand on the carpet. "I'm going to touch it."

"Harry, no! It might … it might be like that coin." Real fear was etched on her face and Harry stood, putting his arms around her and James, kissing the top of his son's head.

"Take James and go into the room, all right? I don't know what's going to happen and I don't want you two caught up in it."

"No, I don't want you out here by yourself."

"Would you rather something happen to the both of us?" Ginny's face flooded with red and she scowled stubbornly, opening her mouth to argue. "No, love. You won't win this one. In the room, yeah?"

She looked at him a long moment before finally nodding in acquiescence, taking James inside the boy's bedroom. "You have to talk to me, though," she called through the open doorway.

"Fair enough. Okay, I'm squatting down next to the rock. It's still blue and doing that weird pulsing," he said, feeling just a little ridiculous narrating his actions.

"It's a heartbeat."

"Thought so." James let out a squeal and he turned his head. "What's wrong?"

"James is getting fussy, I think because he can't see it anymore."

"Rock," James whined, proving Ginny correct.

Harry frowned. _Proximity-based? Line of sight? Interesting._ "All right. I'm going to touch it." He extended a finger out towards it, pulled up short by Ginny's voice.

"Wait."

"What?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Anything else?"

"No."

"All right. Touching it," Harry said, holding his breath as he finally made contact with the stone, fully expecting something maybe not quite cataclysmic to occur. Instead, he felt only smooth, cool quartz against the tip of his finger. _No vibrations, no spark, no heat, no light, no sound._ He kept his finger on it, feeling for any additional sensation in his Auror tattoo. _Nothing._

Ginny's voice floated out to him. "Harry? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, you can come out." Harry picked up the stone, finding it lighter than he expected and stood up as Ginny brought James out, her relief at finding him whole obvious on her face.

"Nothing?" she asked, frowning as he showed it to her on his open palm.

"No. Just like a piece of rock. I mean, you and James both touched it after this Joe fellow, right?"

"Yes. So if he'd done something to it, then whatever was going to happen would have happened. But why is it doing that now?" Harry looked from the rock in his hand to James. The boy was quiet, eyes fixed on the gently pulsating stone. "Could it be responding to whatever is happening with James?" she asked, voice contemplative.

"I've never run into anything like this other than like a Sneakoscope or something."

"A Rememberall? Both of those react to certain energies."

 _But what energy is it reacting to? What are you putting out?_ "Whatever it's reacting to, it's calmed him down. No bath required." Harry looked at Ginny and gave her a tired smile. "Maybe this is our miracle candle?"

"Maybe." Ginny reached out and touched it, Harry bracing himself for something to happen. Her unique history with enchanted objects and creatures had proven to have unpredictable results and he held his breath as she stroked it with her finger for a moment before drawing back. "I don't want James to touch it. Not until we know more about it."

"I agree." Harry closed it in his fist, the light from it making it glow red. When it disappeared, James's face started to crumple and he quickly showed it to him again. "See, it's all right. Daddy's holding it for you."

"Daddy," James echoed, reaching out to pat him on the cheek.

"Now what do we do?" Ginny asked. Now that the excitement seemed to be over, she looked just about dead on her feet.

"Let's go to bed," Harry said, letting out a long sigh.

"What about the boys?" James had worked his head into the crook of her neck and stuck most of the fingers of one hand into his mouth, eyes still glued to the rock.

"We'll bring them in with us. Just for tonight." And so they did, the gently pulsing rock on Ginny's bedside table, casting its strange blue glow around the room. The two boys nestled between them, Harry curled protectively around Allie as Ginny was around James. Stuart insinuated himself at the foot of the bed, the very tip of his tail twitching in time with the pulsing light.

Feet pounding the pavement, Harry came back to the present. Spying the rainbow-striped blankets in the lee of a wall, Harry slowed down, wary of spooking Abraham. _Sorry, no coffee this time._ Reaching the blankets, he squatted down, reaching out to gently shake the sleeping man.

Startling awake, Abraham quickly sat up, squinting at Harry. "Harry? What's going on?" Lazarus poked his head out of the bundle of blankets, looking at Harry suspiciously.

"Can you tell me where to find Joe?"

Abraham stared at him like he wasn't sure he was speaking English and he shook his head as if he were trying to clear it. "Joe? Old Joe, you mean?"

"Yes. I need to talk to him about something."

"Oh, well, I'd love to help you, but no one really knows where to find him. He just kind of shows up when he wants to, you know?" Abraham said, genuinely regretful.

"Are you sure? Is there anyone he associates with that might know where to find him? What about city outreach?"

"No, he doesn't really associate on the regular with anyone and I've never seen city outreach engage with him." Abraham shook his head sadly. "I'll put the word out that you're looking for him … just to talk, right?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, just wanted to have a bit of a chat with him. My wife ran into him the other day."

"Well, I can't guarantee anything, but I'll do my best." Lazarus let out a doggy yawn and Abraham patted him on the head. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine. Gin was just a little concerned for him and wanted to see if I could get him to accept some help," Harry lied smoothly. "So if you can get him in touch with me, I'd really appreciate it."

"Sure, yeah."

Harry reached into the waistband of his running tights, coming out with a twenty-dollar bill and pressed it into Abraham's hand. "Get Lazarus a new bone, all right?"

Abraham tucked the bill away as Harry stood. "Harry, you remember that Samson and Delilah I told you about? Up in the Haight?"

"Yeah?"

"Word on the street is they haven't been seen in a few days."

"Could they have gone into a shelter or moved on?"

Abraham nodded. "Could be, but," he said, pausing for a moment and looking around the quiet plaza. "That one over there said he saw them talking to a man a week or so ago." He jerked his head over to where his rival slept, curled up on a sheet of cardboard.

Harry frowned, glancing at the sleeping man. "You got a description? Maybe it was an outreach worker?"

Shrugging, Abraham nodded again. "Yeah, maybe. Well, I just thought I'd let you know in case you hear anything."

"Yeah, thanks." Harry took his leave and turned around, jogging back the way he'd come. _Don't really feel like running into Scott again._ He thought about Apparating directly home, but Ginny and the boys were sleeping soundly when he left and he didn't want to wake them up with his crashing around. He caught the smell of fresh coffee and headed in that direction, sitting at one of the outdoor tables with his coffee and a croissant.

It was chilly, but no one else was out here and he wanted to be alone to think. _So, I have to find someone who doesn't want to be found. I wish Ron were here,_ he thought, remembering endless hours spent going over surveillance reports and bouncing ideas off of each other, looking for that vital kernel of information that would push them forward.

He stared into space as his coffee cooled, tearing small bits off his croissant and dropping them onto his napkin. Unbidden, his thoughts turned to the aftermath of McGinn's punishment and how he'd had to bail Ron out of a Muggle jail after he'd started a fight in a pub. The rule was if you ran afoul of the Muggle authorities you were to shut up and wait to be bailed out.

"If you're stupid enough to raise hell and get caught for it, then you deserve to spend the night in a Muggle drunk tank," Jackson had said when they joined the department as full Aurors.

"Pssh, as if I'd ever get brought in," Ron boasted in a whisper to Harry.

"You want to put money on that?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at his best friend.

"You're on, mate. One Galleon not too rich for your blood?" Harry snorted and they shook on it, each one never dreaming that they'd ever collect.

"Where's my Galleon?" Harry asked when he saw Ron coming down the hallway, belongings in a large envelope. He looked like he'd seen better days; a large purplish-red bruise covered most of his right eye and half of his cheek and a crusty red line bisected his upper lip.

"Fuck your Galleon, Moneybags," Ron said, sounding exhausted as he fished around in the envelope, coming up with his wand. "Let's get out of here so I can get this shit taken care of."

"Breakfast?" Ron nodded and they stepped out of the police station and into the busy London street. Harry took Ron's arm and steered him toward an alleyway, Apparating them both within easy walking distance of their favorite breakfast spot. "Hold on, let me fix some of that so you look less like an arse," he said, casting a Healing for the bruise and split lip.

"Aw, Potter, going to kiss it and make it better?" Ron simpered when he was finished, using his tongue to test his upper lip.

"Sod off, Weasley." A few minutes later, they were in a booth at a place with the prosaic name of 'Diner' that fancied itself as a bit of America in the middle of London. Harry perused the menu, deciding to treat himself to American blueberry pancakes.

The waitress set steaming mugs of coffee in front of them and took their orders, Ron ordering practically one of everything on the menu. After she left, he let out a long breath, leaning his head against the back of the booth and closing his eyes. Harry sipped his coffee, confident that Ron would talk when he was good and ready.

"Where did you end up last night?" Ron asked, pouring far too much sugar in his coffee.

Harry shrugged, spinning the thick china mug around in a circle on the table. "Nowhere in particular," he said, certain his face was red as he remembered spending the night curled up in Ginny's embrace.

Ron grunted. "Could've used you."

"Then you wouldn't have had anyone to come and get you." The owl had been very insistent, pecking at Ginny's bedroom window with an iron-hard beak until Harry relented and opened it, knowing that the goldenrod Ministry envelope did not hold good news.

"Wouldn't have gotten nicked if you'd been there," Ron insisted, face petulant.

"What set you off?"

"Some chavs were giving West Ham the business. I couldn't let that stand, could I?"

"Since when do you care about Muggle football?" Harry asked, finishing his coffee. He set the mug on the edge of the table, hoping for a refill. His sleep had been far from restful and he was definitely going to need the caffeine.

Ron shrugged, the tip of his nose turning pink. "S'Dean's team, right? Gotta stick up for friends."

The waitress came by and refilled both of their coffees, Ron dumping in more sugar. Harry let Ron's rationalization for the fight pass. They each had their own way of dealing with the events of the previous night and Ron had always been the more physical of them, working out his frustrations with some sort of motion.

"That was fucking insane, mate," Ron finally said after they'd spent some time staring off into space. Harry kept seeing McGinn's expressionless blue eyes in his slack-jawed face, his stomach doing flips over and over.

"Fucking bollocks is what it was. Why did they have—" Harry paused, looking around the mostly empty restaurant before lowering his voice and leaning forward. "Why did they have to put it through the Veil? The Kiss was already done, yeah?"

"I dunno. Maybe that's the way they do it? Give the Kiss and then shove the Dementor through the Veil?" Ron let out a long sigh and slumped down in his seat, absently pushing his shaggy fringe out of his eyes. Their food came and he perked up as the waitress tried fit all of their plates on the table.

Harry tried to enjoy the rare treat of the pancakes, but pushed them aside after a few bites, going back to his coffee, watching as Ron plowed through eggs, bacon, beans, potatoes and Harry's rejected pancakes in addition to his own. After that, they didn't really talk about what they saw in that room, but neither one of them volunteered to witness another Kiss ever again.

"Are you going to eat that?"

"Sorry?" Harry said, looking up from his reverie to see an old man wrapped up in a brightly-colored blanket.

"That croissant. Or rather what's left of it." The old man sat down in the chair across from him, pulling the blanket more tightly around his shoulders in the chill morning air.

Harry looked at the remains of the pastry, now a shredded pile of dough on a napkin in front of him and then at the old man. He narrowed his eyes, taking in the weathered brown face and white hair arranged in two neat braids. "Joe?"

The man smiled, his eyes practically disappearing in the folds and wrinkles of his face. "Harry. At last we meet." Harry stared at the man across from him, thoughts scattering like a herd of spooked Thestrals. He had so many questions for him and he literally didn't know where to start. Joe nodded to his now-cold cup of coffee. "Why don't you get a fresh coffee and we'll talk. While you're doing that, I would like some tea with honey and a whole croissant."

Bemused, Harry went back into the coffee shop, getting a fresh coffee and croissant for himself in addition to the tea and pastry for Joe. Back outside, he saw that his ruined croissant hadn't gone to waste as Joe was holding pieces of it out for some enterprising squirrels and birds.

"Ah, thank you, Harry," Joe said as he set the tea, pastry and half a dozen packets of honey down in front of him before sitting back down in his seat. He watched him as he went through the process of getting his tea just the way he liked it, which apparently required all six packets of honey.

"Do you want me to get you some more?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, no, this is fine. Perfect, in fact." Joe took an experimental sip of his tea, smacking his lips happily before starting on his croissant.

Harry drank his coffee and nibbled on his croissant, feeling strangely content to sit here with the old man and his squirrels and birds. That feeling of contentment sent a tingle of alarm through him and he shook his head, sitting up straight in the metal chair. "How did you know I was looking for you?"

"I heard you say my name."

"You weren't there by the Ferry Building just now."

"No," he said, holding out another shred of croissant to a bird, smiling when it took the bread straight from his hand.

"Listen, there's something going on with my son and I think you have something to do with it or know something about it," Harry finally said when Joe didn't say anything else.

Finished with the last crumbs of the shredded croissant, Joe dusted off his hands and faced Harry, hands folded neatly on top of the table where Harry could see them. "What makes you think that?"

"Erm, well, my wife, Ginny, said that you gave my son something when they met you at the park."

"Did I? What did I give him?"

"A rock of some sort."

Joe nodded, drinking more of his tea. "Yes, you never know when you'll need a good rock."

Harry leaned forward, exasperated with the old man's obliqueness. "Look, my son has been plagued with nightmares or night terrors or … something. And then last night in the middle of the worst one yet, our damn cat brings us this rock and he stopped." He took a deep breath, conscious of how his voice had risen. "I need to know what's going on and I think you can tell me."

Joe didn't say anything for several moments, Harry's heart threatening to beat out of his chest as he stared at the old man staring back at him. "How old is James now?" he finally asked.

"He'll be two in February. 20 months?"

Joe nodded sagely and Harry experienced a sudden impulse to shake whatever he knew out of him, satisfying himself with shoving the last of his croissant in his mouth and chewing aggressively instead. "That's usually around the age that your kind start showing their stripes, isn't it?"

 _Our kind?_ "Sometimes, yes," Harry said cautiously. _Go carefully._

"Have you noticed anything unusual happening around him? Anything out of place?"

"No. I've looked for toys moved, or things in his cot that don't belong …" Harry trailed off, running his fingers through his hair. "Nothing. Just absolute fright." He looked at the old man's sympathy-filled face across from him. "I want to know what's causing it," he whispered.

Joe was quiet as he enjoyed his tea, looking back at Harry with a contemplative expression. "Your boy. He was conceived under unusual circumstances, yes?"

A frisson of surprise went through Harry as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "What are you?" he asked in a voice that he hadn't used in a very long time, the one that usually made hard men start babbling uncontrollably.

"What are any of us except bits of matter that coalesce around another bit of spirit?"

"Don't you bullshit me, Joe. You know entirely too much about my family and make no mistake, I can waste you right here in broad daylight and make everyone around forget about it." Harry looked the old man right in the eyes, hand gripping his wand under the table. As he stared at him, vertigo swept over him and his vision doubled, superimposing another image over that of the old man. In the other image, Joe's eyes flashed gold and the braided hair was a thick, lustrous black; the unlined face all planes and angles of a young man in the prime of his life.

Sucking in a breath, Harry twitched as his phoenix feather tattoo started to prickle and throb, the sensation spreading out from the tattoo throughout his entire body. The dizziness came again, and now the vision of the young man was replaced by … "Coyote," Harry breathed, the truth of the name hanging in the air between them.

Joe, _Coyote_ , inclined His head, giving Harry a pleased smile that showed plenty of white teeth. "At last we meet, Harry James Potter," He said and a strange ringing sound went through Harry at the use of his full name. He took another sip of His tea that Harry noticed was still steaming hot and the smile changed to a sterner look. "You are indeed a powerful wizard, but I don't think even you could quite … 'waste' Me in broad daylight."

Convinced he was going to be vibrated right out of his seat and onto the pavement, Harry gripped the armrests, not quite believing that he was actually talking to a deity even though he felt the truth of it through his whole body. "How … how did you …" he asked, startled when the prickles and throbs abruptly ceased.

"A little trick I've picked up over the years," He said, giving Harry a mischievous smile. "A trick your Ginny would do well to learn."

"Ginny? My Ginny? What are you saying?" Harry asked, suddenly on high alert.

"Your lovely wife has a very beautiful spirit that shines out to all around her. I'm certain you've noticed her rather attractive qualities."

Harry frowned, thinking of the magical creature-related adventures she'd had over the years. _Water horse, selkie, ghost … thunderbird …_ "Are you saying that she's open and spilling out magic … somehow?"

"Everyone puts energy out into the space around them; it's just part of being who you are, but some are perhaps more open than is good for them." The corners of His mouth turned down and He shook His head. "Especially when they are forced open and never taught appropriately."

A chill stole over Harry as he recalled Ginny's small, still figure lying on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets, the ghostly image of young Tom Riddle pulling her essence towards himself. "Are you saying you can teach her? To shield herself from people and creatures that would try to use her?"

Coyote nodded. "I can. And I can help your son."

"Is that what's happening?" Harry asked, seizing on a possible explanation for his son's terrors. "Has someone forced their way into my son? Has someone hurt him?" His heart pounded in his chest, sending hot blood all through him, getting him ready to fight whoever was threatening his family.

"Peace, Harry," Coyote said, raising His hands in a gentling gesture. "Your son has begun experiencing the effects of his magic and is frightened and confused because he has no control. I will teach him control when he gets older."

"His magic? What sort of magic?" Harry took a deep breath, hoping to slow down the rapid beating of his heart.

"Young James is starting to exhibit the qualities of a Seer," Coyote said, popping the last bit of His croissant in His mouth, licking His fingers in satisfaction.

Harry sat, staring at Coyote, searching the lined old face for the trace of a joke and finding none. Unbidden, Trelawney's unhinged countenance sprang to mind and he shook his head. "No."

"Yes."

"No," Harry said again, picking up his napkin and starting to shred it to bits. "I mean … how?"

"Who's really to say? There are things I _still_ don't understand!"

"What about the, erm, help we had? Could that have anything to do with it?" Harry's mind raced, trying to think of any connection between selkies and Seers and coming up empty.

"Selkies and their kind carry strong magic and there is always the potential for some of it to be passed on, but they are not known as Seers," Coyote said as He finished the last of His tea. He looked at Harry with an air of speculation. "I know that several people have remarked on your instincts."

"What are you saying?" Harry asked, eyes narrowed.

"Ginny is not the only one who was forced open. Sometimes the result of that forcing is the uncovering of latent abilities."

"I've never had a single vision in my life," Harry said, jamming his hands in the pockets of his running jacket. _Not counting the ones Voldemort sent me ..._

"Are you certain? Can you be a hundred percent sure that some breakthrough in a case, a hunch you had wasn't a vision?" Coyote asked, a smile playing on His weathered face.

Harry waved his hand in dismissal, bringing the conversation back to his son. "So, James is having visions, then? That's what's scaring him?" he asked, setting aside the question of how he and Ginny managed to give birth to a Seer in favor of finding out how he could best help his son. "What are they of?"

Coyote shrugged, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Even _I_ can't tell you that, Harry."

"What about that rock? He stopped crying when it was near."

"A talisman. You knew a Seer at school, didn't you?"

"Yes. Professor Trelawney. She proclaimed the prophecy that Voldemort took to mean me," Harry said, Trelawney's disembodied voice floating out of the shattered globe at the Department of Mysteries coming back to him.

"You found her a bit strange, I gather?"

"More than a bit. Poor old thing."

"Sometimes, those with a talent for Seeing can become … odd if they're not taken in hand while they're young." Coyote leaned forward, His expression becoming sharper. "The stone will act as a device to nudge the visions James might have aside until he can learn to control them himself. He must have it with him at all times if possible." He sat back again, idly playing with the end of one of His braids. "Young minds are very elastic, but can easily be overwhelmed if the proper precautions aren't taken."

The idea of James being driven mad by visions he couldn't understand or control shook Harry to his core and he blew out a short breath through his nose. _I need to get to the library._ "So that's all we do? Keep this rock or whatever it is close to him?" Coyote nodded and Harry leaned back in his chair, running his hand over his bearded chin as he thought. "How do I know You're telling the truth?" he said, finally asking the question that had been on his mind ever since this bizarre conversation had started.

"How does one ever know what is true and what is false?" Coyote said, shrugging His shoulders, a half-smile on His face.

"Bollocks. Listen, this is _my son_ and I'll thank You to cut the shit."

Coyote lost His mischievous expression and returned Harry's serious look. "I know that I have a certain … reputation and that it is not exactly undeserved. You can rest assured that I do not mean you or yours any harm. A talent such as young James is a vanishingly rare occurrence and one that must be treasured and nurtured in order to be brought to full fruition."

A warning chill settled over Harry and he frowned. "What do You want in return?"

"Who says I want anything in return?"

"I'll not bargain with my son's life." Harry's fingers itched to grab his wand and eliminate the threat to his family in front of him and he forced himself to stay calm.

"Harry, you have nothing to fear from Me. It has been a long, long time since I've had one such as your James to take under My … wing? Or is it My whisker?" He said, that mischievous smile showing once more. "How is Teddy?"

Harry snorted and shook his head. "He's well. Him and Duncan are at the Academy. Ginny calls it 'running, jumping, climbing trees'. It's a lot of bloody hard work is what it is, but he's on cloud nine."

"I'm glad. I hear Yoki and Niyol had an excellent brood and their nest didn't lose a single twig," Coyote said, pride written all over His face.

"You led those kids on a merry chase, didn't You?"

"Oh, it was the most fun I'd had in years. And they found the entrance to My den by their own honest hard work." He looked at Harry, abruptly putting him in mind of Dumbledore. "Mark My words, Harry, those four are going to go far."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Harry mused, remembering when he'd tracked down Teddy and his friends at Mt Diablo as they fearlessly hunted down a deity. He picked up his coffee and finished it, thinking over the new information he'd just learned. _Well, my world's gone a bit sideways this morning._ "So all we have to do for now is keep this rock near him? And no visions?"

"That's all."

"What about Your, erm, training?"

"I'll reach out when the time is right."

"What if … what if he doesn't want the training? I'm not going to force him to do or be something he doesn't want."

Coyote tilted His head to the side and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "If that's the case, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Relieved to at least have some sort of reason for James's distress, Harry let out a long breath, feeling something inside of him unclench and relax. "And Ginny? I guess You'll come to her?" Coyote nodded and Harry nodded back. "Well, I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I guess we'll have to learn to live with it."

"Practical as ever," Coyote said, beaming happily at him as he stood, checking the time on his watch.

"Can I get You anything else?" Harry asked, aware of how ridiculous his question was, but trying to be respectful.

"No, Harry. Get home to your family and be well."

"Yeah, thanks," Harry said as he gathered up the rubbish, mind already working on how he was going to tell Ginny that their firstborn son had been having visions and would grow up to be a Seer. _And that a deity is going to be in charge of his training._

He watched as the two men chatted, one young, one old, wishing he were close enough to hear what they were actually saying. He'd almost jogged over to join the younger man when the old one beat him to it, so he stayed in his hidden spot, wishing for the old man to go away.

 _Blah blah blah. What could you possibly have to say that's so interesting?_ he thought, observing that the younger man was clearly riveted by their conversation. He had a brief spurt of excitement when he saw the younger man grip his wand under the table, but it drained away when it became clear that he wasn't going to blast the old man to kingdom come.

As he watched the men converse, he turned over the information he'd coaxed out of the woman about the children. _The oldest one, conceived in magic and dearly wanted … a bright soul indeed._ Lost in his thoughts of the boy and the couple he had waiting for him at home, he nearly missed it when the younger man stood up and took his leave of the old man. He watched as he walked away, getting ready to follow him when he chanced to glance at the old man still at the table.

The old man was looking right at him and a wave of heat rushed over him, almost as if he was standing in front of an open oven door. _Impossible. No one can see me. Is that … sage?_ He sneezed three times in succession and when he opened his eyes, the old man was gone, the metal table and chairs deserted.

Frustrated, he shook his head, resigning himself to more watching and waiting.


	7. Chapter 7

I opened my eyes and stretched, feeling wonderfully refreshed from the first decent night's sleep in what seemed like ages. I lifted my head, looking at my two boys lying quietly beside me. James looked like he was still sound asleep, but Allie looked back at me, thumb jammed in his mouth. "Give me just a minute," I whispered as I carefully slithered out of the bed.

After the fastest pee known to womankind, I was back in the bed, Allie nestled at my breast and nursing away while James continued to sleep. _Poor thing is probably exhausted,_ I thought, looking at the rock sitting quietly on my bedside table.

Last night it had been glowing a beautiful deep blue, pulsing in time with what I suspected was James's heartbeat, but now it was just a hunk of cloudy white quartz. Mindful of Allie, I cautiously picked it up to take a closer look at it. When James had brought it to me in the park, I'd taken only a cursory glance before putting it in my pocket, but now I really looked at it, trying to catalog everything about it.

 _Roundish, smooth, mostly clear with some cloudy white bits in the middle. Cool to the touch but warms quickly. Polished by water?_ As soon as I had the thought, I knew that this particular piece of quartz had spent a considerable amount of time in the water and I set it back down on the table. James started to stir and I smoothed the dark hair away from his forehead. "Good morning, my water baby," I said softly, smiling at him as he opened his eyes, smiling back at me.

"Daddy," he murmured, rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists.

"Daddy had to go run an errand," I said, remembering Harry kissing me on the cheek as he left in the early morning. "Where are you going?" I asked, squinting at him in the dim dawn light coming through the bedroom windows.

"I'm going to see if I can find Joe and get to the bottom of this." He was dressed all in black, but for running, not chasing down Dark wizards, but it still brought up things I'd thought were well behind us.

"Be careful and don't make trouble," I said, squeezing his hand.

"Love, I never _make_ trouble."

"But it finds you anyway." Harry squeezed my hand and kissed me again before leaving the room to Apparate to wherever he was going. I lay awake for a while after he left, convinced that I wouldn't go back to sleep, but I obviously did.

Allie started fussing, letting me know he was done. I offered James the opportunity, but he shook his head, saying, "O's," in a decisive tone.

"Suit yourself. Come on. Let's see what sort of mess you two have made." I stood up from the bed, taking James's hand to help him hop down to the floor. The quartz caught my eye and I hesitated for a moment before putting it in the pocket of my pajama bottoms.

Once everyone was clean and fresh, we headed downstairs where I saw Stuart lying in a patch of sunlight coming in from the french doors. After getting the kettle on and the boys settled, I shook some freeze-dried salmon treats into his dish, petting him as he chowed down. "That's twice you've saved us," I said, thinking of that long-ago incident with that terrible coin.

Just as the kettle started to boil, Harry came home, his arms full of books. "I thought you were going to find Joe," I said, dropping a teabag in another mug for him and filling them both with hot water.

"I did," he said, setting a stack of books on the breakfast bar.

"Daddy!" James crowed, pointing at Harry.

"Good morning, Jamie boy," Harry said, relief at finding James whole and happy clear on his face. He picked up a few Cheerios from the tray in front of James, popping them into his mouth. "Dry Cheerios. My favorite!" James giggled as Harry dive-bombed him with kisses.

"So, things went well?" I asked, adding milk to our teas. "What're these books you brought home?" I picked one up, noticing it was from the St Ambrose school library, and checked the title. "Divining the Divine? Unlocking the Future? Virtuous Visions? What's all this about?"

Harry picked up his tea and took a drink, clearly marshaling his thoughts. I leaned against the worktop and crossed my arms. "So, is Joe a wizard?"

"Erm, not exactly." Harry took a deep breath and pushed his fringe out of his eyes and I frowned, a thread of worry unravelling in me, my tea forgotten on the worktop. "Joe is … um, well … Joe is Coyote."

I stood there in our sun-filled kitchen looking at my husband, trying to process what I'd just heard. Harry stared back at me, looking like he was expecting my imminent collapse and stood ready to catch me. I automatically picked up my tea, that bastion of British-ness, and sipped it while my mind ran circles. "Okay," I finally said.

"Okay? I tell you that the old homeless bloke you've been chatting to is an ancient deity and all you have to say is 'okay'?"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" I said, absolutely certain that I was a fine shade of red.

"I dunno. I expected more of a reaction." Harry shrugged and drank more tea.

"Well, what did you do when you found out?"

It was Harry's turn to turn red and his eyes slid away from my face. "I might have threatened him a little."

"Oh, Harry, you didn't. Why would you threaten him?"

"He was just … I mean … he wasn't being straight with me, all right?"

"Duh, Harry, he's _Coyote_!" I said, reminding myself of Teddy. "Did he say anything about James?"

"He did." Harry looked over at our oldest son, now happily tossing Cheerios onto the floor for Stuart to chase. "Where's the stone?"

"In my pocket." I pulled it out and handed it to him, glad to see that it was not glowing blue and pulsing in time with my child's heartbeat.

He took it and looked at it carefully, turning it over in his hands before setting it on the worktop. "He said James is a Seer," he said simply.

A cold chill settled on me at his words and I looked at my happy little boy, now whacking the empty tray for all he was worth. "What? No," I said, looking back at Harry. "How can that be?" I willed myself to be calm and rational and not do what I really wanted to do which was grab James and run far, far away.

"He had a few suggestions," he said, his tone suggesting that I wasn't going to like them. "He knows about Tom, Gin."

Another chill came, this one blowing through me as if I were outside at the beach and I actually shivered. Harry put his arms around me and I laid my head on his chest, tears streaming down my face as fear roiled through me. I shook, cursing in my mind that stupid, dumb girl I'd been, pouring out my heart into that diary, delighted when it wrote back, giving such _excellent_ advice.

"I knew it," I whispered, "I knew there was a reason why I kept having miscarriages."

"No, love," Harry said, pressing his lips to the top of my head.

"How do you know?" I asked, breaking out of his grasp and wiping my face in frustration. "You can't say for sure that Tom hasn't fucked me up! That he hasn't fucked the both of us up!"

"Tom's dead and his evil is gone," Harry said, face implacable. "I killed him once and for all."

"But James! A Seer? It's …" I looked again at James, screeching and waving at the cat, supremely unconcerned with what his future would hold.

"I know," Harry said, his voice heavy. "I don't want it for him, either." He took a deep breath and held me again. "But it is what he is and we've got to do our best, yeah?"

"Is that … is that what's been happening?" I asked, my voice muffled by his running jacket.

"Apparently. He said that James has been having visions and he's frightened because he doesn't understand what's happening." Harry paused and I sensed there was a bit more to it and he was deciding if he should tell me or not. "He said … he said that Seers that aren't 'taken in hand' when they're very young tend to go a bit odd."

I immediately thought of Trelawney and her strange behavior and hidden sherry bottles. _Not my son._ "So what do we need to do?" I asked, standing up straight and tucking my hair behind my ears, trying to at least look like I was in control of the situation.

Harry nodded at the quartz stone on the worktop. "We need to keep that near him or with him at all times. Coyote said that it would keep the visions from getting to him until he learns to control his magic." As he spoke, James stiffened in his high chair, wide eyes staring at nothing and a brilliant blue light bloomed in the center of the stone, pulsing slowly at first and then in time with my son's heart.

"Is that …?" I asked as Harry picked up the stone and set it on the tray in front of James, watching anxiously as the baby relaxed and smiled up at him, patting his cheek. "Daddy," he burbled and my own heart started beating again.

"Rock!" James pointed at it, clearly pleased to see it again, and picked it up.

"Jamie's rock," Harry said, picking him up out of the high chair and bringing him over to me. I took him from Harry, holding him close as he showed me the weirdly-glowing rock that was the only thing between him and possibly madness-inducing visions. I kissed the top of his head, sniffling past the prickle of tears in my eyes, Harry watching us both. "All right?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, fine. I mean, we've seen it work twice now, haven't we?" Determined to get on with things, I turned to the books Harry had brought home. "So, are all of those for James so we know what to do when he gets older?"

"Not exactly. I want to do some research and see if there's anything we're missing right away, but, erm, Coyote said he'd handle his training when he gets older," Harry said, looking sheepish.

"What? Coyote is going to come and train our son in how to be a Seer?"

"That's what he said. Said they're rare and that James's talent should be properly nurtured." He put down the book he had in his hands and looked at me, setting off a tingle of alarm. "James isn't the only one that'll be receiving some training."

I instantly looked at Allie, sound asleep in his bouncer and back to Harry. "Is Allie …?" I began, glad to see Harry shake his head.

"No. You," he said, pointing at me.

I thought I'd already gotten all of the shocks I was going to get this morning, but there was another one. "What? Me? I'm not a Seer."

"You're not, but Coyote said that you are entirely too … he said 'open'." Harry waved his hands around, reminding me of Ben whenever he talked about magic.

Panic rose in me. "Open? Open how? What does that mean?"

"I think it might have to do with how all of these creatures find you and ask for help. Coyote said we all put out energy and that you put out more than most," he said, leaving unspoken the reason for that. _Tom Riddle._

Overwhelmed, I went back to drinking my tea, staring blankly at nothing as I tried to work through my son being a Seer and me apparently being open and available to every magical Tom, Dick and Harry out there. _Ugh, Tom again!_ _Stiff upper lip,Weasley,_ I thought, mentally dusting my hands of things I couldn't currently control. I decided to face what I could control and right now that meant a nice Sunday breakfast for my family.

I set James down on the floor, giving him a pat on his bum and checked on Allie, making sure he was still asleep in the bouncy seat. "What are you in the mood for?" I asked Harry as I opened the refrigerator.

"What?" he asked, still holding his mug of tea.

"For breakfast. What are you in the mood for? Omelette? Scramble? Frittata?" I took the eggs out and set them on the worktop, reaching for the half of an onion I knew we had left. The packet of shredded cheese and a tomato joined the eggs and onion on the worktop. "What?" I said, conscious of Harry staring at me.

"Nothing," Harry said, shaking his head and setting his empty mug down on the worktop. "What else have we got?" He rummaged in the fridge, pulling out some nice ham and bacon. He looked at the assembled ingredients and nodded. "Frittata, I think."

"I concur." I cracked eggs into a bowl as Harry chopped up the onion and tomato. I knew that I would have to face the new realities in my life, but for now, I wanted to make breakfast with my husband and check in on a new mother later this afternoon. As I whisked the eggs, I watched James trundle around the lounge, the quartz rock or talisman or whatever it was clenched in his fist. _That rock had better do what it's supposed to do or me and this Coyote bloke are going to have words._

Later on that afternoon, I paid a visit to new mum Evelyn. "Have you decided what you're going to call her?" I asked, handing the swaddled baby back to her. I'd done a thorough workup, checking her ears, eyes, weight, length and head circumference. She was the very picture of newborn health, her heart and lungs sounding great.

"We've decided to name her Gillian for my grandmother," Evelyn said, looking down at her daughter. "And Coretta for Jacob's great-great grandmother. The one in the portrait."

I was surprised to hear Coretta as a choice, but I've never really been too sure if Evelyn knew the whole story about what exactly went on with the portrait miniature and the history with Cornelius's twisted sacrifice of his wife and the desire to do the same with his daughter, Coretta. _Well, she was Jacob's assistant-cum-bodyguard, so I imagine she knows quite a lot,_ I thought as I smiled and complimented her on the name choice.

"And how is her nursing?" I asked, motioning for Evelyn to uncover a breast so I could see how she was getting on. Evelyn's mum beamed at us from her position on the wingback chair near the foot of the bed, eternally knitting as we discussed getting new babies to latch on properly, knowing whether the baby was getting enough and proper burping techniques.

After my visit, I went home and decided it was an excellent time to start going through the boxes we still had yet to unpack in the garage and once that was done, the upstairs linen closet needed rearranging. I was deeply involved in sorting through towels when I heard Harry talking to me.

"Sorry?" I asked, pulling my head out of the depths of our linen closet.

"What are you doing?" he asked, leaning casually against the wall, a veritable case study in nonchalance.

"Oh. I'm cleaning out the linen closet. Some of these towels have gotten rather tatty," I said, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

"I can see that, love, but why now?"

"We're going to have company soon. Ben will be staying for Thanksgiving and Teddy is coming home during the break. I can't have them using worn-out towels, can I?"

"Fair enough. The garage?"

"Those boxes have been there for ages! It was past time they were cleared out." He continued to look at me skeptically, one eyebrow raised and I took a deep breath, trying to quell the desire to yell at him. "What?"

"Ever since we chatted this morning, you've been cooking something, cleaning something, straightening up something. Are you all right?"

"Are you saying it's so unusual for me to cook and clean?" I asked, putting my hand on my hip.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "No. I'm saying that you're not giving yourself a chance to think."

"What's there to think about? My son has been assaulted by visions he can't control and will be trained in how not to be driven mad by them by some ancient deity or god or whatever. And I apparently need some training myself in how not to … do …" As I talked, I became aware of my voice getting higher and louder until I felt like I was just babbling. My blood roaring in my ears, I reached out for the door, certain I was about to pass out.

Harry was apparently certain as well because he dropped his casual act and wrapped his arms around me, holding me steady as I shook. "Shh, love," he murmured, soothing the storm inside of me until it passed.

I don't know how long we stood there in front of the half-emptied linen closet before I finally felt like myself again and pulled away from him, self-consciously wiping my nose and tucking my hair behind my ears. "All right?" Harry asked, rubbing my arms.

Letting out a long sigh, I nodded. "Yes. I will be, I guess."

"Come on." Harry used his wand to set the linen closet back to rights and took my hand, leading me into our bedroom.

"I should check on the boys," I said, trying to pull my hand out of his grasp.

"They're both asleep. We have a few minutes." He sat down on the bed and before I knew it, I was nestled like a spoon in his embrace. "Now, tell me what's really bothering you."

"Where to begin?" I said after I spent a few moments gathering my thoughts, eventually settling on the core of what was bothering me the most. "I can't believe after all of these years, Tom … Voldemort … is still plaguing us. He's dead. Why is he still here?"

"He _is_ dead, love. I don't think we can definitely say what's happening with James has anything to do with him."

"Then why? Why does our boy have to suffer? And if anyone ever finds out he's a Seer …" I swallowed, imagining Archimedes getting his hands on him for the Aurors.

As ever, Harry was a step ahead of me. "He won't suffer, love. And Archimedes will never know. Not from us."

The firm resolve in his voice calmed some of the riot inside of me and I nodded in agreement. "I just keep turning over in my head. If not because of … the _thing,_ how could this have happened? I don't think I have any Seers in my family." Unbidden, an old memory surfaced. _What do they teach children these days that you do not even know your own worth?_ the shade of Cornelius Maxwell asked me as he perched on a boulder.

Harry shrugged. "Could be something from my side. Or it could be completely random chance. I … asked Coyote about any possible influence from the selkies, but he said that they aren't known as Seers, so …" We lay quietly for a time until he squeezed me tight, kissing my ear. "Is that all that's bothering you?"

"No." I turned around to face him, sweeping my thumb over his cheek. "I'm worried about what Coyote will need to teach me. What have I been doing? Have I been putting us in danger without knowing it?"

"You mean by leading us into adventures of finding eggs, wives and dryads?"

"Don't make fun. You never know—I mean we did find that ill-wish on that one. That could have turned very bad. I just never expected something like this to happen and I guess I'm having some trouble with it."

"We're too much alike. We both love being in control," Harry said, getting straight to the truth.

"You know me so well."

"I can tell Coyote to shove off."

"No, don't do that," I said after a bit of consideration. "Given my history, there's obviously something happening and I don't want to accidentally put the boys in danger … well, more danger by being stubborn."

"You? Stubborn?" Harry grinned at me and I tapped his nose before kissing him.

"I have been occasionally known to be stubborn." I closed my eyes, the rubble of a ruined Hogwarts all around me once more. Harry yelling at me to stay safe and not run headlong into battle. "I can't afford to be stubborn and selfish anymore, can I?"

"No, I suppose you can't. Neither one of us, yeah?" Harry said, his voice almost a whisper in my ear.

We lay quietly together, each thinking our own thoughts until I became aware of an urgent need. "Let me up," I said, squirming around in his arms.

"Are you going to go after the linen closet again?" he asked, tightening his hold.

"No. Everyone will have to deal with our tatty bath towels. I need to see if Allie is hungry and pump if he's not." Harry let me go and I stood up from the bed, looking down at him. "Thank you."

He took my hand and kissed the back of it, sending a small tingle across my skin. "Any time."

* * *

A few days later, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see the old man, wrapped up in His blanket, shuffling towards me. I was inside the coffee shop this time, it being far too chilly to sit outside. "Is this seat taken?" He asked, gesturing to the empty chair across the small table from me.

"It's a free country," I said, moving some of my papers out of the way.

Unfazed by my uninviting tone, He sat down and let the blanket fall away from His shoulders. I saw that He wore a plaid western-style shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons. He took a deep breath through His nose and exhaled noisily. "Smells good in here, doesn't it?"

"I suppose." _Don't let Him get to you._

"I've always liked the smell of fresh coffee. When you're camping out on the plains with just a fire for company, that fresh coffee smell sure can make you feel less alone." I held fast to my irritation with Him and refused to give in. "Now, I had a friend once who insisted the best way to make coffee was to strain it through his own hat!" He laughed loudly as if it was the funniest thing ever said by anyone and against my will, the corner of my mouth twitched a little. "I never had the heart to tell him that his coffee tasted like cow piss! Smelled good, though."

I crossed my arms and looked at Him, trying to look cool and aloof. Ever since I'd found out who He really was, I had been harboring a resentment that He didn't tell me when we first met in the park with the boys. "I wouldn't have thought coyotes had a taste for coffee. Cow piss on the other hand …" More laughter, loud enough that it ought to have attracted the attention of the entire shop, but no one was paying us any mind at all. A tingle of fear shot through me and I thought of Harry asking me to Summon him the next time I ran into the old man.

"Peace, Ginny Weasley," He said, raising His hands as if He were calming a nervous horse. "I've only enhanced our privacy for the time being. If you wish to call Harry to you, I will not stop you, but he is in the middle of teaching class right now." His dark eyes gleamed with mirth and good humor and I relaxed. Looking across the room, I caught the eye of a young man who'd glanced up from his computer screen, satisfied that I could still be seen when he blushed and ducked back down.

Coyote sat across from me, the very picture of elderly innocence and I began to regret my churlish behavior. I knew very well that He was nothing like a sweet old man, but He knew very well that our emotions are based on our perceptions and that's undoubtedly why He chose to present himself as such. I sighed and shook my head. "Can I get You anything?"

"I would like a café mocha and one of those giant cookies," He said, settling more comfortably in the chair. When I returned with His coffee and cookie, He pointed to a plaque on the wall. "Hey, did you know that a movie was written here?"

I peered at the plaque. "The Godfather. I'll have to put it on our list." I sat back down, noticing that He'd been reading some of my papers. "What do You think?"

"I think it's an interesting idea, fusing magic and medicine." He drank some of His coffee and looked back at me, setting the papers back down on the table. "It's not a new one, though. What do you think My people have been doing for millennia with sweat lodges?"

Taken aback, I didn't know quite how to respond and I felt uncharacteristically flustered. "Well, I thought it was a good idea …"

"It's an excellent idea, just not a new one." He grinned at me and took a bite of His cookie and for a moment, I could have sworn that His teeth were pointed and very sharp. "How is James?"

Startled by the switch of conversational topics, I shook off the strange vision and straightened my papers. "He's well. The … talisman seems to be doing its job."

"Good." He continued to sip His coffee and eat His cookie as if He had all the time in the world and no concerns whatsoever. I had my pen in my hand and started tapping it on the table, stopping when He looked pointedly at it.

"Sorry," I said, putting it down on the table and pushing it away so I wouldn't be tempted.

"Do not be sorry. Be Quiet," He said, His voice imbuing the word 'quiet' with a capital 'Q'.

I took a deep breath, thinking back to the meditation exercises I used to do when I was having trouble sleeping during all of that business with Cornelius Maxwell. "I know how to meditate," I said, trying to find a well of calmness inside of me and becoming more and more irritated when I couldn't.

"That's a good start." His voice was infuriatingly tranquil and I huffed out a breath. _Why am I so bothered? Harry told me this was coming, but …_

"I'm scared," I whispered and across from me, Coyote nodded.

"Yes. What are you scared of?"

"I'm scared of …" _Of my child going mad, of him being used for his ability, of not being able to do whatever it is I need to do with You …_ "a lot of things," I finished lamely.

"Fear is good. It keeps you healthy. But you do not need to fear Me right now." _Right now?_ I thought, feeling my heart speed up. "Close your eyes," He said and I did, focusing on His voice as He bade me to relax in the middle of the busy coffee shop.

My breathing deepened as He continued to talk, His voice starting to sound more like a chant with a very distinct rhythm. I began to have that strange, hyper-aware feeling that I remembered from meditating with Harry. Conversations swirled around me and I was sure I could hear the music the young man I'd locked eyes with was listening to through his oversized headphones.

As I went deeper, Coyote's voice lost the sense of words and instead became a string of tones and sounds that felt like they were drilling into my brain. Gradually the conversations, the music, the sounds of the milk steamer and espresso machine faded and I became aware of a sort of feeling that reminded me of a freshly-opened fizzy drink all over my skin.

"Ah, there it is," Coyote said, His voice resolving into words again.

"What is it?"

"It's you. Your magic."

"How come I've never felt it before?" I concentrated, trying to see if my hands felt different from my legs. I noticed that the top of my head seemed more active. _Well, that's only reasonable, more blood flow and all that,_ I thought, trying to inject some rational reasoning into this odd experience.

"You have, you just didn't realize it. It's been a part of you for your whole life, just as much as your breath or the beat of your heart," He said and I knew He was right. "Now, concentrate a little more and tell me what you perceive."

I took another keep breath and keeping my eyes closed, tried to slip into another level of relaxation, sort of like that time Harry and I were trying to see those three-dimensional pictures in a book; to see them, you had to not _want_ to see them. In that state, I felt a sort of flickering against my own bubbliness and I gasped, opening my eyes. "Was that You?" I asked, smiling when Coyote grinned at me.

"What did you feel?" He asked, leaning forward in His seat.

"Erm, a sort of … flickering, I guess? Sort of like when you're putting a piece of wood on a fire and your hand brushes the flames a little."

"Good. Now, close your eyes again and get back to where you were." Eager to prove myself to Him, I did so, finding it easier to slip into that strange version of consciousness once more. This time, no matter how much I concentrated, I didn't feel that flickering again and I frowned. "What's the matter?" Coyote asked and I opened my eyes again to look at Him.

"I don't feel anything," I said, disappointment filling my voice.

Coyote nodded, wide grin wreathing His face in wrinkles. "Excellent. You don't perceive anything because I didn't want you to." He pointed at me. "That is what you need to learn how to do."

"Oh," I said after allowing the surprise to run through me. "Um … all right. Why? Am I in any sort of danger?"

Coyote tilted His head from side to side and nibbled a bit more of the cookie. "Not immediate danger, perhaps, but there are always those that seek to take advantage of others. What you have is like one of those signs on the side of the road that people are so fond of these days." He waved His hand around in a circle. "The ones that light up with pictures and things, you know?"

I did know. There was one not too far from us that Harry constantly complained about destroying his night vision whenever we happened to drive past it. "So you're saying that I'm a bit of a walking advertisement."

"Just so." He beamed at me again and drank more of His mocha. "This is really good. I'll have to come back here. Maybe I'll write a movie."

I drank my own coffee, still the perfect temperature from the charm I'd put on it earlier, thinking about what I'd learned. "So, all of those magical creatures … ? I was attracting them?"

"In a way. Water horses are legendarily shy and you convinced one to trust you and he even let you touch him," He said, making me remember the softer than velvet sensation of the water horse's nose against the palm of my hand. _Like a cool drink of water on a hot summer's day,_ I'd described it to Harry.

"That was just patience. I waited through a few full moons."

Coyote raised His eyebrow, expression full of doubt. "I've known of others who waited years and never had one reveal himself."

I set that idea aside for later contemplation and screwed up my courage to ask the question that had been bothering me ever since Harry had told me about his conversation with Coyote a few days ago. "Why am I like this? Is it because of … what happened in my first year?" I picked up my pen again and started tapping it against the table.

Coyote put His hand over mine, stilling the pen. His hand was dry and very warm and a wave of peacefulness rolled over me, quelling the roiling that had started in my gut. "Ginny, what happened was unfortunate and not the way I would have chosen to awaken your aptitude, but what's done is done."

"My aptitude?"

"Seventh-borns have ever been unique. I don't doubt that the sad fragment of Tom Riddle's soul that was in that diary sensed it and took advantage of it as it used you." He looked regretful and squeezed my hand in His, causing a lump to rise in my throat. Almost as if He had read my mind, He spoke again, His voice gentle. "There is none of his evil in you. Harry made sure of that when he destroyed the diary and then again when he goaded the Dark Lord into attacking him."

My nose stung and I withdrew my hand from His, using my napkin to discreetly swipe at it. He did me the courtesy of ignoring my sniffles as I got myself back together. Feeling back in control, I crossed my arms and looked at Him. "So, when You hid Hehewuti's egg, which one of us were you testing?" I asked, gratified to see a sheepish expression on His face.

"That was a good trick, wasn't it?"

"Hehewuti didn't think so."

"Thunderbirds have terrible senses of humor," He said dismissively, a glint of mischief in His dark eyes. "That might have been a case of killing two birds with one stone."

"I see. Well, good thing no birds actually got killed."

"I had a good feeling about your partnership."

"So, how do we do this?" I asked, glancing at my watch. I was due back in the office soon. "Are we meeting every Tuesday?"

"Schedules are so unnecessarily rigid, don't you think? For now, I want you to spend some time getting to know the feeling of your own magic. Don't try to change anything about it, just get to know it," He said, gathering His blanket around His shoulders.

"And then I suppose You'll just show up when I least expect it?" Coyote nodded and I sighed, resigned to being surprised by him at parks and coffee shops all over town. "What about James? Harry said You're going to train him? When is that going to happen? What are You going to do? How long will it take? What if he doesn't want to be trained?"

"That will take time and structure. We'll discuss that when James himself can participate in the conversation. All of your very good questions will be answered in time." He stood up from the table and I became aware of the noise and conversations that had been going on around us get louder and I guessed our enhanced privacy was over. "Be well, Ginny Weasley. I will see you again."

A wave of dizziness passed over me and I shook my head, not really surprised when he was gone. "Well, what have you gotten yourself into now?" I muttered as I gathered up my papers and headed back to the office.


	8. Chapter 8

"What are you doing?" Teddy asked as he came into the kitchen, nostrils flaring.

Harry looked up from the recipe he was reading. "Getting ready to brine the turkey."

"What? What's that supposed to do?"

"Create a moist and succulent bird that will have the whole family raving," Harry said, setting the tablet computer down on the worktop. He turned to the pot on the cooker that held the simmering mixture of salt and spices. He spooned some of the mixture up and took an experimental sip. "Well, it's definitely salty."

"So, you heat that up and then what?" Teddy took a sample himself, wrinkling his nose at the taste. "Ugh, I hope it tastes better once it's made with the turkey."

"Well, then I soak the bird in it for twenty-four hours. Then remove it, pat it dry, stuff it and cook it." He looked at his godson leaning against the cabinets. "Want to help? You can dig for the giblets."

"No thanks." Teddy crossed his arms and looked pointedly at Harry's bare feet. "So, does Ginny have you where she wants you? Barefoot and in the kitchen?"

Harry snorted and turned the fire down underneath the boiling pot. "At least I'm not pregnant. Ginny is in charge of desserts."

"Desserts? Plural?" Teddy's eyes lit up and a ripple of bright orange went through his sandy brown hair. "Is she going to make her ginger cake?"

"Mmm hm," Harry murmured, carefully cutting the defrosted turkey out of the packaging. "Ben's supposed to be making his mum's pumpkin pie and I think they're doing something else besides."

"So even though we're not at Jacob's this year, we're still going to be in a food coma. Excellent."

"It's apparently the American way. Make yourself useful and put that stock pot over here." Harry picked up the washed, de-gibleted and patted-dry turkey and motioned with his elbow where he wanted the pot placed, carefully setting the bird inside of it. "And now to not make a mess." Acutely aware of Teddy watching him, he picked up the pot of magically-chilled brine and slowly poured it over the turkey in the larger pot.

"Didn't spill a single drop," Teddy said, peering at the full pot. "It's floating. Is it supposed to do that?"

Harry grunted and picked up the tablet, consulting the screen. "According to Martha, if it floats, I can use a plate to hold it down. The whole thing needs to be submerged in order to get the best effect." He pointed his wand at the pot and the turkey slowly sank down until it was completely covered by the salty, spicy solution. "Plates are for Muggles," Harry proclaimed.

"Let's talk stuffing," Teddy said as Harry muscled the heavy pot into the temporarily enlarged refrigerator. "How many varieties are we having? Did you ever get that recipe from Jacob's cook?"

"Ben's in charge of that. He says his mum's sausage and sage stuffing is 'the bomb' or 'legit' or some such."

"Off the hook?" Teddy grinned at him and Harry found himself grinning back. He'd never admit it directly to him, but ever since Teddy had moved out of the house and into the academy, both he and Ginny had missed him terribly.

"Should we expect Duncan?" Harry asked, washing his hands and then Vanishing the packaging and packet of giblets.

"He wants to know what time we're eating so he can plan his second Thanksgiving dinner," Teddy said, shaking his head at his best friend's antics.

"What time are the Suttons eating?"

"I'll find out."

"So you can have two Thanksgivings as well?"

Teddy put his hands over his stomach and made a face, sticking his tongue out as if he were about to be ill. "No thank you. Katie's already trying to fatten me up like a Christmas goose."

Harry grinned, well aware of Duncan's younger sister's crush on his godson. Since Teddy and Duncan had gone into the Auror academy in the middle of summer, she'd developed a habit of hanging back after Defense class, asking if he'd heard from Teddy lately. "Maybe you should let her," he said, poking him in the chest.

Teddy slapped his hand away, face reddening in embarrassment. "Um, how's Kelly doing?"

"She's doing well. Have you not spoken to her lately?"

Shrugging, Teddy picked up an apple from the bowl on the worktop, tossing it from hand to hand as a distraction. "Her dad, you know?"

Harry did know and his heart went out to his godson. Almost a year ago, Teddy and Duncan, ever partners in crime, had gone on a not-very-well-advised adventure to obtain a whisker from Coyote Himself for Hehewuti's son, Niyol. Kelly, a Chaser on the school Quidditch team, had gotten wind of the adventure and had insisted on coming along. Her father, a very overprotective Muggle firefighter, learned of the adventure and nipped their romance in the bud, forbidding any non-school or Quidditch-related contact between them. Teddy had been devastated.

Harry had harbored a hope that some time would get Mr Taylor to relax a little, but he turned out to be a man who could carry a grudge, giving Harry the cold shoulder at the back-to-school night at the beginning of Kelly's senior year. "Sorry," he said, grabbing an apple himself.

"S'okay." Teddy set the fruit down uneaten, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, the very picture of teenaged dejection.

"Come on, get your kit on," Harry said, tossing his apple back into the bowl. "If we're going to stuff ourselves silly in the next couple of days, we'd better burn some calories, yeah?"

A few minutes later, they were running down the San Francisco marina. It was a sunny day, but the wind off the water was chilly as they headed toward the Golden Gate bridge. They ran easily together on the lightly-crowded walkway, long-accustomed to matching their strides as they dodged tourists.

The brightly-painted bridge loomed in front of them and Harry thought of his first wild idea to take his junior and senior students out to it to practice casting the Patronus Charm against real _(live?)_ Dementors. It was now a highly-anticipated annual tradition and Harry had seen the aptitude for the spell go up over the years, confirming his conviction that anyone could learn the most difficult magic with enough determination and practice.

"Hey," Teddy said, breaking into his thoughts, "can I ask you a question?" Harry grunted in response, dodging a small dog on a too-long leash, wondering what could be on his mind. "Have you ever seen anyone get the Dementor's Kiss?"

Hyperion McGinn's empty blue eyes floated in front of him again and he nearly stumbled on an uneven piece of pavement, managing to make it look like a skip instead. "What brings that up?" he asked, managing to sound casually interested.

"We were studying them, Dementors, right before the break. Auror Caldwell said it's not used as punishment here, but it does happen every now and then to unlucky ones. We read about one case in the South near an old plantation," Teddy said, slowing down to avoid running into a young mother with a double-wide jogging pushchair, casting an annoyed glare her way when he saw that the pushchair carried two small dogs and not children.

"Some people," he muttered, shaking his head. "Anyway, a witch was gathering some herbs at this old plantation in Louisiana somewhere and she got too close to an old slave graveyard and a Dementor got her."

"Unpleasant. That the one they found wandering around the road?" Harry asked, visualizing the witch carefully gathering moon-blooming herbs and plants, only to be set upon by possibly more than one Dementor. _I wonder if anyone bothered to teach her the Patronus Charm? Probably not._ As far as he knew, he was still the only Defense teacher in the US that taught it at the high school level.

"Yeah. She was found a day or so later by some Muggles. They thought she was out of her mind on drugs. Her family had done a missing persons with the local MLES, so they got her out of Muggle hospital." He shook his head again. "I just can't imagine it, you know? It was bad enough out on the bridge with you right there, but to have one actually touching you and … ugh."

Harry was glad that he could blame his shudder on the cold wind constantly blowing on them as they ran. Once again, he saw Hyperion McGinn trembling as the Dementor revealed the gray, leech-like orifice designed for the singular purpose of sucking out a human's immortal soul, leaving a living, breathing but completely empty husk behind. "Sorry?" he said, realizing Teddy was talking to him.

"Oh, I was saying that I wondered if you'd ever seen it happen. Auror Caldwell said that it's still used in a few places as punishment for really bad crimes. Bulgaria, for one and Britain." Teddy glanced over at him, open curiosity plain on his face.

Harry's heart clenched in his chest at the innocence on Teddy's face and for a moment, his godson was eight years old again, having a spirited argument as to whether Father Christmas was a wizard or a Muggle. "I've seen it once," he said, slowing down to a walk as they approached Fort Point.

Teddy's mouth dropped open in amazement; he clearly wasn't expecting this answer and Harry kicked himself for failing to realize that he could have avoided talking about the experience at all. _I can't keep everything from him._ "Really? What … I mean … wow."

An uncomfortable flush rose up Harry's neck as Teddy stared at him, looking like he was nearly starstruck and he shrugged. "Nasty bit of business."

"What was it like? What happened? Why was the Kiss given? What did you do after? Was Ron there, too?"

"It was about the worst thing I ever saw. They brought him in all bound up and silenced. His wand was already broken, yeah? The Dementor was there and we all stood back and the Dementor went up to him and …" The memory of that creature sighing in ecstasy sent a crawling sensation along his skin and he rubbed his arms. "And that was that."

Teddy stared at him, waiting for him to say more and Harry turned away, jogging up the pathway to the old brick fort. A moment later, he heard Teddy following him and soon they were running in tandem once more. Harry braced himself for more questions, but Teddy didn't ask anything else. As they got closer to the bridge, Harry spotted a Dementor floating underneath the deck, looking like an enormous cloud of ash.

"So, what else have you been learning in those classes of yours?" Harry asked as they stood in the shadow of the bridge. "You doing antidotes yet? Haven't blown up your Potions classroom, have you?"

"I'm never living that down, am I?"

Harry dodged Teddy's jab at his shoulder, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward and off-balance. "Nope." Teddy relaxed into the pull, letting his body fall forward and keeping his feet under him as he foiled Harry's attempt to trip him. Harry blocked a jab to his midsection, following through with the block to drive his shoulder into Teddy's chest, sending him stumbling back several steps.

"Who do they have you sparring against over there? Little old ladies?" Harry taunted as he balanced on the balls of his feet, ready for his godson to rush at him. Teddy surprised him though, standing up straight and raising an eyebrow, cocking his head towards a small group of tourists. Flushing, Harry waved at them, dropping his ready stance.

"You almost got us in trouble," Teddy admonished as they continued on toward the fort. "That one lady had her mobile out."

"Maybe she was getting ready to film us?"

"That's the last thing you need. Can you imagine? _Harry Potter, the latest YouTube sensation!_ " Teddy said, spreading his arms with a flourish.

Harry groaned and shook his head. "That would be the absolute worst. Skeeter would have a field day."

"Is that old cow still around?"

"Yeah. She's still out there making trouble." Harry looked out at the dark blue water of the bay and took a deep breath of the cold air. "S'one of the reasons I'm in no hurry to get back."

"Have you and Ginny talked about it? Moving back?"

Harry shrugged. "Some. Maybe when Molly and Arthur get older and need more attention." He turned to Teddy and grinned. "Maybe when I'm old and gray and no one recognizes me anymore."

"When? I have bad news for you," Teddy said, taking off at a run with a loud whoop when Harry reached out to grab him. Swift as a deer, he ran into the entrance of the old fort, Harry following close behind. Their laughter echoed on the old brick walls, seagulls screeching in response as they took flight.

Breathing hard, they stood in the center of the courtyard, looking up at the arching latticework of the bridge above them. "Boy, can you imagine being posted out here?" Teddy said, rubbing his hands against his arms.

"Beautiful, but miserable," Harry said, looking up towards the lighthouse. "Hey, I think someone's in there."

"Isn't it shut?" Teddy looked up where Harry was pointing and frowned. "Hmm, yeah, definitely someone in there. Looks like a man … brown hair with a pair of binoculars. Bird watcher?"

"Maybe. Or, a Dementor watcher?" Harry pointed to the Dementor he'd seen earlier, still floating among the bright orange beams and girders, glad he was too far away for it to affect him. _I didn't bring any chocolate,_ he thought.

Teddy sucked in a breath. "Wizard, you think?"

"Must be. I know the gate is locked. Must've Apparated in there."

"Should we do anything?" Teddy asked, sounding eager to right a perceived wrong of trespassing on public property.

"Nah. He got himself in there. He can get himself out." Harry was about to turn away when the figure moved, leaving the small room and coming down the metal spiral staircase. "I'll be buggered," he said, recognizing the man coming down the stairs.

"You know him?"

"Yeah. That's Jacob's new assistant, Scott Andrews. What the hell is he doing out here?" Curious, Harry watched Scott, waving his hand to get his attention. Scott nodded and joined them in the courtyard a moment later.

"Fancy meeting you here!" he said, shaking Harry's hand. He was bundled up in a thick coat and gloves. The high-end binoculars hung from his neck.

"Scott, this is Teddy, my godson," Harry said, gesturing at Teddy as they shook hands. "I was just telling him that you've taken the reins from Evelyn and are now in charge of managing Jacob."

"As if anyone could truly _manage_ Jacob," Scott said as he rolled his eyes. "I just try and keep him going to his appointments and remind him to eat every now and then." He turned to Teddy and nodded. "Harry tells me you're at the Auror Academy."

"Yes, sir, just started this summer."

"Sir. Psssh, I'm what, less than ten years older than you? Scott is fine, all right?" Teddy nodded and Scott grinned back. "How are you liking it?"

"It's fantastic. My mum was an Auror before she, erm, died in the war. At the Battle of Hogwarts," Teddy said, quickly warming to his favorite subject. "I stayed with my Gran when I was small and she used to tell me stories of her being an Auror, so I decided that's what I wanted to do."

"I'm sure she'd be very proud of you. You're lucky to have figured out what you want to do so young."

"What about you, Scott? Is being Jacob's assistant just a stop on the way?" Harry asked, nodding to the binoculars. "Or do you have something else in mind?"

"Oh, these? I was watching that Dementor there." He took the binoculars from around his neck and handed them to Teddy. "Here, have a look."

Teddy took a cursory look through the binoculars and handed them back. "Thanks, but I can do better on my own," he said, turning his hair bright blue for a moment.

"Well I'll be. A Metamorphmagus," Scott said admiringly. "Your mum?"

"Yeah," Teddy said and Harry noticed that he said nothing about his father the werewolf. "What were you looking at that Dementor for?"

They started walking out of the fort and towards the path back to Crissy Field. The sun was going down and there was a definite bite in the late November air, but there were still some hardy, wetsuit-swaddled souls out surfing the small break by the fort. "They're fascinating creatures and I'd heard that there were a few out here at the bridge, so I thought I'd come and take a look for myself."

"Oh yeah. We just finished studying them at the Academy. They're very strange creatures. No one really knows where they came from or how intelligent they are. They can't really be killed, can they?" Teddy gave Harry a questioning look and he shook his head in answer. _Unless you put them through the Veil,_ Harry thought grimly, half-listening to their conversation as they discussed the origins and merits of the common, garden-variety Dementor.

Harry's mobile vibrated in the pocket of his running jacket and he pulled it out, seeing a message from Ginny on it. She and Ben had spent the day out at lunch catching up and running Thanksgiving-related errands with the boys. _Where are you?_ her message said.

 _Out running with Teddy. What's up?_

 _You can't be running if you're messaging with me._

 _Fine. We're walking. We ran into Scott and they're chattering away as we walk back._

 _Scott? Where did you find him?_

 _Fort Point. Crazy bugger was looking at Dementors through binoculars._

 _Weird. Maybe you should take him on your next field trip so he can get up close and personal?_

Harry snorted and glanced over at him, wondering if he could cast a Patronus and what form it took. _Maybe. If Jacob hasn't scared him off by spring. Are you at home?_

 _Yes. Ben needs you to pick something up though._

 _I'm not going to the Castro._

 _Aw, Ben's giving me the pouty face. No, not the Castro. He says he needs a certain kind of sausage for his stuffing. He needs you to go to that little deli in North Beach._

Harry sighed. On the best of days, that place was a madhouse and today it would be on an exponentially higher level. _You know that place is going to be demented, right?_

 _Yes. That's why we didn't go with the boys. He says pretty please._

"Pretty please my arse," Harry mumbled as he tapped out his response. _Fine. That pumpkin pie had better be good._

 _Oh, that reminds me. Ben wants to use some of your Lagavulin in the pie._

 _What? No. He can use the Balvenie for the pie. Who puts whisky in a pie anyway?_

 _Apparently his mum. And Julia Child._

"What?" Harry said, looking up from the mobile phone when he realized he was being spoken to. Teddy was frowning at him, full of righteous teenaged disapproval.

"You haven't heard a word I've been saying, have you?" he said, sounding alarmingly like Ginny.

"I am fielding requests from your godmother. We need to get sausage in North Beach for Ben." His phone vibrated again and he ignored it.

"I was asking if we could have Scott over to our place for Thanksgiving dinner," Teddy said, cocking his head over to the young man.

Scott shrugged, looking hopeful. "Jacob said I could have dinner with them, but they've got the new baby and I'd feel like I was intruding."

"Ah, no worries. Sure, come on over. We're eating at four, I think." Harry glanced down at the screen and smiled at the string of hearts Ginny had sent. "Well, we'd better get on with our errand. We'll see you tomorrow, yeah? You need the address?"

"Yeah, that would be great," Scott said, adjusting the heavy binoculars that still hung around his neck.

"I'll send my stag in a bit." Harry put his phone back in his pocket and got ready to head off on his errand when Teddy held him up.

"What's your Patronus, Scott?" Teddy asked the somewhat personal question in his disarmingly charming way.

"Erm, I'm afraid I don't know," Scott said, looking a little uncomfortable at the admission.

"Can you cast an incorporeal one? Harry takes the juniors and seniors out on the bridge every spring to try casting it in front of a real Dementor. Have you ever tried against a real one?"

"No, I've never had the pleasure. It was nice seeing you again, Harry. Teddy, we'll chat again tomorrow, I'm sure," Scott said, moving further down the walkway.

They stood there and watched his retreating back. "Did I piss him off?" Teddy asked, looking at Harry.

"Dunno. Maybe he's embarrassed about it? Nothing to be ashamed of, though. Lots of witches and wizards can't manage it." He put his arm around Teddy's shoulders and mussed his hair. "Come on, let's go get Ben some sausage."

"Gross. You know what you just said?" Teddy broke out of his grasp and slid his fingers through his hair, repairing the damage Harry had done. As they headed off on their errand, Harry cast another look in the direction Scott had gone. _Strange that a champion dueler from Durmstrang can't cast a Patronus._

* * *

"Your sausage, sir," Harry said, handing Ben the securely-wrapped package.

"Why, Harry Potter, are you propositioning me?" Ben said, batting his eyelashes outrageously as he took the package. I shook my head and continued cracking eggs into the mixing bowl.

Harry shook his head and came over to me, nuzzling my neck. "You're going to distract me and make me mess this up," I said, turning my face to kiss him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ben open the refrigerator door to put away the sausage only to close it and look at the refrigerator again before shrugging and putting the sausage away in the magically enlarged space.

"Ginny, why is James carrying around a can of corn?" Teddy asked as he came into the kitchen and settled himself at the breakfast bar. He eyed the open bottle of stout that I'd used part of in the cake and reached for it, one eye on Harry. Harry shrugged and Teddy grinned, pulling it towards him and taking a long swallow.

"I don't know, love, you'll have to ask him," I said, setting the mixer to blend my wet ingredients.

"It's just adorable," Ben said as James joined us, can of corn nestled carefully in the crook of his arm.

"Ben, you up for some death matches tonight?" Teddy asked, clearly enjoying the opportunity to drink an alcoholic beverage.

"Do you mean am I up for making you cry like a little girl? You bet your sweet bippy I am." I grinned, turning off the mixer as they continued razzing each other over that Halo game while Ben chopped celery for his stuffing.

"Did you have a good run? What did Scott have to say?" I gave my dry ingredients another stir to make sure everything was mixed. I always felt like Mum would somehow know if I failed to execute her ginger cake anything less than perfectly.

"I dunno, he talked to Teddy mostly. They were talking about Dementors the whole time." James held his can of corn out to Harry and he took it, making a show of looking at it very carefully before handing it back. James took it and wandered away to the lounge.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Why?"

"Apparently they've been covering them at the Academy." Harry leaned closer and lowered his voice. "He asked if I've ever seen the Kiss."

"Did you tell him?" I murmured, adding the dry ingredients to the wet as the mixer ran on low speed.

"The basics. Plus Scott was over at Fort Point looking at one through binoculars."

"You said. I wonder what for?"

"Dunno. He—"

"Oh, Ginny! I almost forgot. We met Jacob's new assistant while we were out and I invited him to dinner tomorrow. I hope it's okay." He looked at me and I just knew he was subtly enhancing the color of his eyes to make him look more innocent and charming.

"Well, I'm just doing one of the desserts, so it's fine with me. What did Harry say?"

"Harry said it was fine," Harry said, taking a handful of the pecans Ben hadn't chopped yet and popping them into his mouth. "He said Jacob offered to have him over, but he'd feel like he was intruding with the new baby and all."

I nodded, remembering our first Thanksgiving in the States. Jacob had insisted on having us over for his "Orphan's Thanksgiving" and I was sure Harry and I had gained five pounds from that meal alone.

"You're over-mixing." Harry nodded towards the bowl of batter and I looked at it, squinting critically.

"I am not."

"She's gonna know," he said in a singsong voice.

"She will not," I huffed, shutting off the mixer. "Go see what your son is up to. He's too quiet."

Harry laughed at me as I anxiously checked the batter before pouring it into the prepared pan as he walked away to see what our oldest had gotten into. He came back just as I was closing the oven, James asleep on his shoulder.

Ben looked up from chopping pecans and sighed. "There is nothing hotter than a good-looking man with a baby."

"What's the matter, Ben? Baby rabies?" Harry adjusted James more comfortably and helped me clean up my baking mess.

"Ugh, like you wouldn't believe. None of the guys I meet are interested in a family yet. All they care about are the clubs and getting their dicks sucked!"

"Woah, TMI, man!" Teddy exclaimed, nearly choking on the Guinness he was still nursing.

"Oh please. You're in college or whatever and James is asleep."

"Well, I'm sure you'll eventually find your old maid companion. Just stay out of WeHo. Have you looked in Pasadena?" I said, grinning at his sour expression. Just then, James shifted around in Harry's arms, his back arching momentarily and my heart stuttered in my chest.

"Where is it?" Harry asked and I reached into James's pocket, releasing the Sticking Charm I'd used earlier and pulled out the quartz stone talisman, not surprised at all to see it glowing blue and pulsing.

"What is that?" Teddy asked, eyes wide as he stared at the rock in my hand, his beer forgotten for the moment.

Ben frowned and leaned forward, holding his hand out. I handed him the rock and he peered at it closely before handing it to Teddy. "It's a sort of talisman," I said, taking James from Harry and holding him close, reassured by his even, sleepy breathing.

"What's it for?"

I exchanged a glance with Harry, hoping he understood that I would like nothing better than for him to take the lead in this. "It's supposed to help James when he, erm, has visions," Harry said, as if toddlers having visions were an everyday, normal occurrence.

"Um …" Ben looked at me, brow furrowed in concern.

"Apparently James is a Seer." Saying it out loud still frightened me and I felt like I'd never get used to it.

"What?" Teddy said, his voice full of wonder. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"It's a long story, but we know," Harry said in a voice that did not invite argument. He looked sternly at Teddy. "No one else needs to know, all right?"

"Who would I tell?" he said defensively and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh. I guess you have a point. Duncan does have some trouble keeping his mouth shut." He looked back down at the rock. "Hey, I've seen this rock before."

"You have? When?" Harry took it from him, closing it in his fist.

"Um, last year. After one of our … discussions. I went out to Aquatic Park and was skipping stones and some old guy gave me this one and I skipped it out into the water." He looked at me, eyes wide. "Where did you find it?"

"At the playground. An old man, you say? Did he maybe have gray hair in two braids?" I had a hot, sweaty feeling in my belly. _Has Coyote been manipulating us?_

"Yeah, I think so. Was that the same guy you got it from?"

"Maybe," Harry said noncommittally. "Don't tell anyone, yeah?"

"All right, jeez." Teddy remembered his beer and took a rebellious swallow.

Completely unaware of all of the commotion, James continued to sleep in my arms. "He's worn out. I'm going to put him in his cot." I held out my hand and Harry put the stone in my palm, warm from his own hand.

Upstairs, I wrestled my sleeping son out of his clothes, leaving him in his nappy and shirt as I put him in his cot. I stood there watching him, the talisman casting a blue glow in the dim room. I tried not to count his breaths, but I did anyway, finding a sort of calmness in matching mine to his.

"Is he all right?" Ben asked, joining me next to the cot and looking down at James.

"He's fine. Ever since we figured out about that little stone, it's just a brief moment and then he goes back to whatever he was doing," I said, wrapping my arms around myself.

Ben peered at the stone and then looked at me, eyebrow raised. "And how are _you_ doing?"

I let out a long breath, grabbing onto the railing of the cot as a bout of wooziness overtook me. His blue eyes concerned, Ben reached out, pulling me to him in a hug. We stood silent for several moments before I finally felt like I could speak coherently. "Better. It was really rough there for a while before we realized what that stone was."

I looked at my peacefully sleeping son and shook my head. "Here I am, a fully-qualified Healer and Muggle doctor and I couldn't even figure out what was wrong with my own son."

"It's hard when you're so close to the subject," Ben said, trying his best to soothe me. "Um, what exactly does being a Seer mean? Does he see, um, the future or something?"

"It can. I've recently learned that there are a few different sorts of Seers. Some deal exclusively in the future, some in things that are happening in the present but very far away, some find lost things, some even See past events," I said, thinking of the books Harry had brought home the day he'd had the conversation with Coyote.

"The past?" Ben asked, wrinkling his nose. "What's the point of that?"

"Harry said he'd heard of one that used to be in the Department of Mysteries. Dead useful for crime investigations, but he had a very limited radius and needed to be very drunk." Ben raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. "Seers can get very odd. Our Divination professor at school was a true Seer. Poor thing was nutty as a fruitcake and drank like a fish. Or a fruitcake. There's a lot of alcohol in those."

"A true Seer?"

"Oh yes, there's all sorts that claim to be Seers, but true ones are extremely rare. Professor Trelawney, though, she was real even though she didn't even know it." The memory of the terrible night at the Department of Mysteries washed over me. _Stupid, stupid children,_ I thought.

"Is it dangerous for James? Is that why you don't want anyone to know?" he asked and I knew he was thinking of Archimedes and his eternal quest to recruit Harry back into the Aurors. _If he couldn't get the father, would the son be a bigger prize?_

"Well, we don't want him to be used or taken advantage of, you know? It's not the sort of thing parents hope for with their children and … well, if there's no early intervention with Seers, they can be driven mad." I cast my eyes at the stone, still pulsing blue on the chest of drawers.

"Wait, really? Why? How?" Ben stared at the talisman, mesmerized by it.

"I understand the visions can be hard to control in the early going. They just come, often when the Seer's guard is down like when falling asleep. Depending on what the vision is, it can be quite disturbing and if the developing Seer doesn't realize what's happening, they can go mad or a bit strange."

"Does it always happen when they're babies?"

"No. It turns out our James is quite precocious in that regard. It's a very random magic; some don't manifest until teens or adulthood and some not until they're on their deathbeds. I read about one old man in York that foretold the time of his death ten minutes before he died."

Ben frowned, looking down at the innocently sleeping boy and then back up at me. "Did the, um, extra help you had with James have anything to do with it?"

"No, not according to Coyote," I said, suppressing my grin at his look of amazement when I named the ancient deity.

"What? _The_ Coyote? The same one that Teddy got that whisker from? The one from the legends?" he whispered, his voice getting higher with each word.

Worried he'd wake James, I grabbed his arm and pulled him from the room. "Yes, _that_ Coyote. Harry had a conversation with Him the other day after we found out about the stone. He'd put an enchantment on it to keep the visions from coming to James until he learns to control them." I licked my lips and swallowed, bracing myself for an outsized reaction from Ben. "He's going to train James when he gets older."

"What?" he asked, loud enough to be heard downstairs and I heard Harry's "All right?" float upstairs.

I shrugged and grinned up at him. "What can I say? My husband killed a Dark Lord and my son sees the future or the past or whatever. We're magnets for weird shit."

Ben crossed his arms and looked down at me, making me feel very short. "And what about you?"

Just then the timer on the oven went off and I pointed at the middle of my chest. "I make the best damn ginger cake this side of the Atlantic."


	9. Chapter 9

"Ginny, we need to talk," Ben said, taking my elbow and steering me into the kitchen.

"About?" I asked, even though I already had an excellent idea of what, or rather whom, he wanted to address.

He glanced over his shoulder at the lounge where we could see Harry and our newly-arrived guest, Scott, chatting as Harry poured him a scotch. "Please don't make me spell it out."

"Oh, you mean Scott?"

Ben rolled his eyes and blew out an exasperated breath. "Yes, I mean Scott!" he hissed. "How long did you plan on hiding this one from me?"

"Hiding him? Ben, we've only just met him at Jacob's Halloween. What am I supposed to do? Hand him your business card and tell him to ring you up?" I crossed my arms against my chest and looked up at him, blowing a stray strand of hair out of my face.

"Do you think it would help? I have some in my bag upstairs."

"Ben. I am not going to spread your business card all over town." I glanced back at the lounge, catching Harry's eye. He raised his eyebrow and I shook my head. "Now, I have no idea if Scott is of your persuasion, but he seems to be nice, so you're on your own."

Ben narrowed his eyes and glanced back at Scott before looking back at me. "Fine. I'll have to work my gay magic on him during dinner," he said, spreading his hands and fluttering his fingers.

"See that you do. Speaking of, we should probably start getting things ready." The turkey had been out of the oven for a little while, resting under a tent of aluminum foil. Everything else was in the refrigerator, so I started pulling serving dishes out and setting them on the worktop.

In addition to the mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and rice pilaf, Ben had insisted on making what he insisted were American Thanksgiving classics: sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows and another thing he called a green bean casserole. Green beans seemed to be only tangentially related to the dish.

Ben popped the rolls into the oven and turned to me with a questioning look. "So what do we do with this? Can you …?" he asked, waving his right hand around as if he were holding a wand.

"Yes, I can," I said, mimicking his outrageous hand wave, adding my own pirouette flair. I took my wand and concentrated for a moment, fixing in my mind the perfect temperature for each dish and a moment later, delicious-smelling steam rose up from them.

"Beeeeeeeeeep." Ben grinned impishly at me, eyes dancing at his joke. "How come we couldn't do that for the rolls?"

"The rolls need to brown and magic's not quite as good for that as the oven. Let's get this lot out on the table." I picked up the dish of potatoes and walked into the dining room, nodding at Harry. "Your turn, love."

"Oh my God, are we finally going to eat?" Teddy asked, turning around on the sofa, all interest in the video game they'd been playing gone in favor of food. Two empty bowls that had previously held popcorn sat in front of him on the coffee table.

"See, you should have come to my house. We ate at one," Duncan said, sounding superior.

Scott looked initially amused and then alarmed at the parade of dishes we were carrying to the table and I saw him look around as if he were expecting more people to pop out of the woodwork. "Excuse me, I have to carve the turkey," Harry said, finishing his scotch.

I nudged Ben, nodding my head towards our guest standing a bit awkwardly in the middle of the lounge, drink still in hand. "Introduce yourself," I whispered.

"You think so?" he whispered back.

"Yes!"

Harry leaned into our conversation. "I can't believe you're going to cheat on me," he said, giving Ben a hurt look.

"Oh, Harry. You know you'll always be my first love." I hid my giggle behind my hand and waved him off towards Scott, watching as Ben insinuated himself into watching Teddy and Duncan play one more death match before dinner. "Hello, I don't think we've met. I'm Ben Frye," I heard him say, extending his hand.

"Maybe we've made a love connection," I whispered in Harry's ear as he used the honing steel on his carving knife, the knife making a ringing sound against it.

"Maybe," he murmured, focused on the task at hand. He'd spent some time over the last few days watching videos on how to perfectly carve a turkey, determined to get it right on the first try for our first American Thanksgiving in our own house.

I left him to his work, heading upstairs to get Allie. I'd found the cutest little onesie for him that had a turkey wearing a Pilgrim hat with "Gobble Gobble!" underneath. "You are adorable!" I said once he was in a clean nappy and the onesie. He giggled and waved his hands in glee as I picked him up and headed down the stairs.

"Mum mum mum!" James chanted from his pack-and-play prison, raising his arms toward me. Disturbed by the noise, Stuart jumped out of the pack-and-play, arching his back in a luxurious stretch. Ben was by my side in a moment, lifting James up.

"Oof! What is Mom feeding you? You're getting so big!" he said, balancing James on his hip. "He's straight," he said out of the corner of his mouth as he leaned towards me.

"Oh, bad luck. Sorry." I glanced over at Scott, now watching as Teddy and Duncan battled to the death. Curious about the new person, Stuart ambled over and gave his leg an experimental sniff, sneezing three times in succession.

"I guess he's allergic," Scott said, looking at us and shrugging. Stuart didn't comment, sitting down to wash his face instead.

"Dinner is served," Harry said, standing in the archway to the dining room.

"Finally!" Teddy tossed down the game controller and practically vaulted over the back of the sofa, not even caring when Duncan delivered the coup de grace to his abandoned character.

Even though I knew everything that was being served for dinner, I was still stunned at the sight of all of the food covering our dining room table that was definitely larger than it usually was. Behind me, I heard Scott say, "Wow. Are you sure we're not expecting anyone else?"

"Girl, this is downright sedate," Ben said, settling James in his high chair positioned next to his seat. "My parents used to host huge Thanksgivings when I was a kid and Mom would start cooking a week ahead of time." He handed James a roll and turned to Scott with a smile. "I'm sure the feasts at Hogwarts made this look plain."

"I wouldn't know," Scott said, holding his wineglass steady while Harry filled it. "I went to Durmstrang. The food there was rather … plain. More geared towards the hearty and filling than the extravagant."

"You went to Durmstrang?" Duncan asked, frozen in the act of serving himself a mountain of mashed potatoes. "No way."

"Why didn't you go to Hogwarts?" Teddy asked, eyes alight with curiosity. "Harry, didn't you say some kid in your year said he could have gone to Durmstrang?"

"Yeah. Draco Malfoy bragged about it, but said his mummy couldn't have stood having him so far away from her bosom." Harry gave me a cheeky grin as he poured gravy all over his plate, not caring that he was even covering the marshmallow sweet potatoes.

"Is it true that they teach the Dark Arts there?" Duncan had added what looked like half the turkey to his mountain of potatoes, cranberry sauce sliding down and looking to me like a blood clot I'd once had to suction out of a wound during my residency. I served myself up a healthy portion of the green bean casserole, eager to try it out.

Scott looked amused at the boys' fascination. "Well, that school believes in being more, erm, proactive in the field of the Dark Arts and the defense from said Dark Arts."

The two boys exchanged a look and Teddy made a furtive glance at Harry. I could tell he was dying to ask Scott questions and I saw Harry shrug out of the corner of my eye. It was as if a floodgate had opened and both boys peppered Scott with questions.

"Have you ever used _Imperio_ on anyone?"

"Have you had it used on you? What about the Cruciatus Curse?"

"Oh, dude! I bet that hurts sooo much! I heard that they do it to us in our third year!"

"What about Avada Kedavra? Harry said he had a teacher demonstrate it on a spider once."

"Well yeah, dummy. You couldn't do that on a person! You'd get sent to prison for sure!"

"Oh! How did you not all get sent to prison for doing that stuff?"

Scott's mouth dropped open at the barrage and he looked at all of us helplessly and I felt a bit sorry for him. "Teddy, I'm sure that Scott will be more than happy to answer _some_ of your questions after he's had something to eat, all right?"

Abashed, Teddy nodded and elbowed Duncan. "Sorry," he said. "I've never met anyone who went there."

"No worries. Most British children go to Hogwarts, after all. It's a bit of a tradition in my family," Scott said, picking up his fork to attack his loaded plate.

"Oh?" Ben asked. "How is that?"

Shrugging, Scott took a sip of wine. "I dunno, really. I think Dad said that his granddad's granddad came from the area and it's just been that way ever since."

"So where is it at? Isn't that other one in France? Beau-something?" Ben turned to me and I nodded, my mouth inelegantly full.

"Beauxbatons," Scott supplied. He gave Ben a wide grin and I heard my friend squeak. "As to where Durmstrang is, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He looked friendly and charming, but something in his expression made me lay a hand on Allie, quiet in his carrier next to me.

"Oh my God, I feel like I should never have to eat again," Ginny groaned as she got into bed.

"If only we were snakes, we'd be set for the rest of the year." Harry gathered Ginny to him, kissing the top of her head. "That ginger cake was smashing."

"Thanks. The turkey wasn't half bad."

"Only half bad?" Harry snorted as Ginny giggled beside him. He felt like a stuffed turkey himself, but his wife in his arms was moving his thoughts beyond his uncomfortably full belly and he placed his lips gently against her temple, sliding down to her ear, grinning when she tried to squirm away from him.

Relenting, he kissed his way to her lips, capturing them with his, his heart racing in his chest at her soft sounds as they kissed. "Harry," she whispered, sending a tingle along his skin.

"Gin," he muttered, sweeping his hand up her side from her hip to her shoulder.

"Harry, wait," she said, pushing gently against his chest.

"All right?"

"No … I'm sorry love, but … ugh," she said, making a disagreeable face. "I'm still too full."

Just then Harry's stomach let out a loud rumble and he sighed. "Me, too. Come here." He lay down flat on his back, extending his arm so Ginny could nestle her head on his shoulder. "Good day?"

"Yeah. It's nice having Teddy here again."

"Don't get too used to it."

"I know," Ginny sighed. "He's grown up far too quickly. It seems like it was just yesterday you were out in front of the Burrow teaching him to ride a bike."

"And now he and Duncan are out doing who knows what."

"Oh, stop being a teacher for once," Ginny scolded, tapping him lightly on his chest.

"Well, I can't stop being a dad, can I?"

"I suppose not. They're good boys."

"Good at not getting caught, you mean." Harry lay quietly, enjoying the feeling of Ginny curled up next to him, feeling like he was finally able to relax when a thought came to him. "Question for you."

"Hmm?"

"How did Scott know about the help we had in getting James?" he asked, remembering his surprise when the dinner conversation had turned in the direction of their family plans.

"So, are you two planning on matching the Weasleys?" Scott had asked, grinning at Harry over his wineglass.

"Not on your life," Ginny interjected before Harry even had a chance to say anything. She glanced over at him and smiled. "We've talked about one more, but we'll have to see how things go."

"What if you have trouble again? Will you get the same help?" Harry's mind came alert, coming out of its food-induced slumber and he looked sharply at Scott, searching the younger man's face.

Ginny shrugged and spun her water glass around. "Allie didn't give us any trouble, so we might be past all that."

"Gross. This is not the sort of conversation I would have expected at Thanksgiving," Teddy said as he stood up from the table. "Scott, want to try your hand at Halo? I'll show you the ropes." Harry watched as Scott followed Teddy and Duncan into the lounge, resolved to ask Ginny how Scott knew about the selkie's help when they were alone.

Beside him, Ginny yawned and stretched. "Oh, I think we had a conversation about it when I was midwifing for Evelyn. He was asking about the boys and we got to talking about how difficult it can be to have children and it just came out. He said biology's always been a hobby and I suppose I got a bit caught up in having someone interested for once," she said, poking him in the ribs.

"I'm interested," Harry protested, settling his hand on top of hers.

"You don't have to lie to me, love. I've seen your eyes glaze over when I start talking about anatomy."

"Well, maybe you're not talking about the right sort of anatomy."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Potter."

"I can't. It's too comfortable there." He took her hand and kissed it, laying it back on his chest.

"Are you upset that I mentioned it?" Ginny asked after several quiet moments.

Harry sighed and turned onto his side to look at her. "You know I don't like telling anyone anything about us. I would have preferred if you hadn't mentioned it, but Scott doesn't seem the sort to blab it about town, so I think we're all right." _And if I do hear anything, I'll know the source,_ he thought as he closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to claim him.

He stood in the shadow of the large hedge across the street from the house, eyes fixed on the second-floor windows. Warm yellow light spilled out and he could just make out shadows moving along the walls inside. He zipped up his jacket a little more as a cold finger of wind teased at the gap in his scarf.

He thought about the afternoon and evening he'd spent in the house with them and their pet Muggle. _Why is he even allowed to know about us?_ had been his initial thought when the man had come up to him and introduced himself as a friend of the woman's. It had amused him to know that he'd attracted the Muggle with his looks and had toyed with the idea of leading him on, but the thought of having to endure the man's tedious attentions all evening made him tired, so he'd made his preferences known straightaway.

 _Interesting conversation, though. The lengths they had gone through to have that child …_ He'd initially been annoyed when they insisted on seating the little boys at the table with them, resigning himself to a meal interrupted by tantrums and crying, but he'd been surprised to find the older one very well-behaved, content to jam his fist into a bowl of mashed potatoes. _Well-formed and the spitting image of his father, except for those eyes._

When he'd learned of the special circumstances surrounding the boy's conception from the woman, who he really thought ought to learn to control her tongue, he'd spent the evening doing some reading on selkies himself and what he'd learned had raised his eyebrows. _I wonder if they even have the faintest idea of what they've wrought with that one._ He snorted derisively to himself. _Likely not._

Their second son wasn't nearly as interesting as he waved his arms and gurgled in his carrier, the woman doting on him and coaxing him to try what she thought of as choice bits. He'd come about in the usual way with no extraordinary efforts required and he'd dismissed the child as ordinary.

One thing he hadn't quite expected, though, was to enjoy himself. The metamorphmagus and his friend were very engaging young men with their chatter about Muggle video games and their studies at the Auror Academy, peppering him with questions about his time at Durmstrang. He'd read about metamorphmagi and the tricks they used to make you like them and the young man was very good, likely not even fully conscious of what he was doing as he subtly enhanced the color and shape of his eyes to make him seem like a more interesting person that was worth knowing.

After the absurdly large meal, they'd drawn him into the lounge, proudly showing him their skills as they relentlessly killed each other over and over and he found himself completely engaged, surprising himself when he eagerly took the controller they handed to him. Soon, everyone was in the lounge, watching and cheering when he managed to aim in the proper direction and strike at one of his opponents. Their pet Muggle plonked himself down on the sofa and insisted on a round with him, proving to be a very patient teacher.

"And now we'll team up against those two," he'd said, pointing at the two young Auror trainees.

"We'll destroy you," the metamorphmagus said, echoed by his friend and they spent the next hour doing exactly that, after which he begged off, thinking it was time to leave, but no, they had apparently not eaten enough because now it was time for pudding. The woman had made a ginger cake that she insisted would never equal her mother's and the Muggle had made the uniquely American pumpkin pie, something that he felt needed copious amounts of the fresh whipped cream before he could get it down.

And over them all, the man was constantly watching, those green eyes seeming to miss nothing. He could see the man had kept his keen observation skills, something he'd noted in previous encounters with him and he swelled with pride with the knowledge that he didn't really _see_ him, didn't _know_ him at all. _I'm under your radar, as they say,_ he'd thought as he drank an excellent farewell scotch with the man.

Up above, the light in the window went out and he stared at the window, the afterimage of the light hovering in front of his eyes. The family inside the house was finally going to sleep after a long day of participating in this odd American holiday. _A very useful holiday as it turns out._ He hadn't missed the tingle of the Blood Seal on the threshold as he was invited into the house by the young metamorphmagus. He saw for himself how the man and the woman seemed to be able to communicate with a single look. Most notably, he saw how much they doted on their oldest child.

 _Always touching him, holding him, talking to him._ He shook his head as he turned to walk down the pavement. _They should know better than to put so much love into something so fragile. Speaking of fragile, I should get back and see how my own guests are getting on._ Turning his back on the quiet house, he walked away, humming a jaunty tune.

Harry entered the interrogation room, quickly taking in the solitary man sitting at the steel table on a steel chair bolted to the floor, shackled with steel cuffs. His wand hadn't been snapped in half yet, but the Ministry were taking no chances with this one and the room had nearly every single protective spell wizards had invented cast on its walls.

Hyperion McGinn stared straight ahead at nothing, a snarl fixed on his face. Behind him, Ron shut the door and the pressure from the magical seal pressed against Harry's ears and he yawned, making them pop.

Moving together as one, Harry and Ron sat down in the plain steel chairs bolted to the floor across from McGinn, Harry laying down a manila folder on the table between them. McGinn's eyes flicked down to it and then back up, focusing on the empty space between the two young Aurors, snarl still firmly in place.

Harry picked up the folder and riffled through the papers as if he were looking over the contents, even though he practically knew them by heart. "Hyperion William McGinn," he said, careful to keep his voice neutral. "The boys down at WandTech have made some interesting discoveries with _Priori Incantatem._ Would you care to discuss what they found?"

McGinn made no effort to respond, continuing to stare at the blank wall facing him. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron shift in his seat and he applied a bit of pressure on his friend's foot, their usual signal for the other to stay quiet. "They found that you don't seem to do much housekeeping, which shouldn't really be a surprise considering the condition of your … home," Harry said, opening the file to a random page. "What you do seem to do a lot of is hurt people."

McGinn's lip twitched and Harry let out a quiet breath. _He'll talk. We need him to talk._ Reproducing a record of the spells a wizard's wand had cast was no guarantee of guilt since any other witch or wizard could use a wand that did not belong to them. In order to develop a strong case, a confession was key. "You know you could be put away for using _Crucio_ alone, yes?"

Beside him he felt Ron twitch as McGinn's eyes swept to meet his for a split second, sending a hot blast of hate through him. "But you didn't stop at the Cruciatus Curse, did you?" Ron said, his voice loud in the room. He picked up the file, leafing through the assembled pages. "You were quite creative, making interesting use of the Disintegration Curse." He looked at Harry and grinned. "I've heard of hexing someone's bits off, but I never thought I'd run into someone who'd actually done it."

Harry held himself still, letting Ron get on with what he did best, playing the part of the sort of garrulous bloke you'd meet in the pub, always ready to buy a round in exchange for a good story. "And the Entrail-Expelling Curse, cor that must have made a mess." He leaned forward, giving McGinn and guileless smile. "Good thing we're wizards. Easy cleanup, yeah?"

McGinn looked at him and Harry actually saw him dismiss Ron from his consideration as a human being and from the hardening of his expression, Ron knew it, too. The accused man's eyes shifted over to Harry, looking like he would like nothing better than to skewer him slowly from one end to the other just to watch him squirm. The awful things he'd seen in McGinn's crumbling home swam to the front of his mind and he banished them with an effort of will, sending the jar that held the human fetus to the compartment of his mind that he saved for such things.

"I know what you are, Potter. I know what the Dark Lord made you," McGinn said, his voice sounding like a rusty garden gate that hadn't been opened in a hundred years.

Harry stared back into his unforgiving eyes, a hot spike of anger pulsing in his gut. "You don't know anything about me, McGinn, so why don't you cut the shit?" he said, keeping his voice even. "Why don't you tell us about those hikers you compelled to throw themselves off the cliffs?"

McGinn laughed, a choking, bubbling sound that reminded Harry of the old coal miners he'd heard in Welsh pubs. "Paugh. Muggles," he snorted, spitting on the floor of the room. He turned back to look at Harry, an appraising look in his eyes. "He may not have intended to do it, but he did it all the same. And you were never the wiser, were you?" He sat up straighter in the hard chair, raising his manacled hands to sweep his greasy, gray hair out of his face; revealing more of it did not improve his looks.

Harry pushed aside the squirming, crawling sensation on his skin, focusing on the task at hand of getting McGinn to confess to what they knew he'd done. "Margaret Atkinson and Beau Harris, both twenty-two and going to university in Glasgow. Decided to spend their spring break hiking part of the Cape Wrath trail." Harry paused to see if the names of two of his victims prompted McGinn to speak, but he remained stubbornly silent. "Beau died in the fall, but Margaret wasn't so lucky, was she?" _At least eight weeks pregnant, too._

Beside him, Ron shook his head, arms crossed against his chest, Celtic knotwork Auror tattoo stretched over his bulging bicep. Harry noticed McGinn looking at the swirling, crashing colors and was abruptly glad that his wasn't on display.

McGinn's eyes slid from Ron's tattoo back to Harry, his snarl morphing into an insane grin. "No, you nor the Dark Lord ever knew what you really were, Harry Potter," he said, spitting Harry's name like a curse.

"Then you know that it didn't save him," he said, voice clipped. "Rory and Tony Billings. Brothers, twins, out celebrating the end of their 'dirty thirties'. Or at least they were until they ran into one of your little stickmen." Harry tossed the bundle of sticks bound together with twine and bits of hair into a crude representation of a man on the table. It was safely encased in a plastic bag, but it still felt like it left a disgusting film on his hands. McGinn's eyes lit up at the sight of it and he gave it a fond little smile, looking like a proud, demented father. He reached a finger out to it and Ron swept it out of his reach.

McGinn pouted, staring down at the table where the ill-wish had been. "He thought it would," he croaked, picking up where he'd left off as if Harry hadn't said a single word. He sat back, the insane grin becoming a sly smile full of satisfaction. "He came to me, you know. Asked me what I knew."

"And you told him." Harry's voice came out hard as stone. _How many could have avoided death if you'd just kept your mouth shut?_ "Why don't you tell us a little of what you know about how Rory died as you took him apart bit by bit? What were you looking for?"

"Just because some don't approve doesn't mean the knowledge has to die." McGinn gave a one-armed shrug and beside him, Ron started as if he was about to leap across the table at him, controlling himself at the last second. Disdaining Ron's obvious threat to him, McGinn leaned forward, focusing solely on Harry. "But _you_ are the Boy Who Lived, now the Man Who Gets to Decide What is Good for All of Us." McGinn sneered, his lips curling up to expose his yellow, horse-like teeth. "Just think what a riot there would be if the world knew what you really were, Harry _James_ Potter."

The mad eyes roamed Harry's face, taking everything in, processing it before letting out an unhinged giggle that made Harry's stomach churn. "Such beauty," McGinn crooned in that terrible voice. "Tom Riddle was beautiful once. I wonder, Harry, how your darkness will change you?"

Harry stopped himself from reaching up to rub his old scar, crossing his arms instead. He stared at the man in front of him, flirting briefly with the thought of Legilimancy, but the very idea of actually being inside of that madness practically made him lose his lunch. Unwilling to lose the battle of wills, Harry stared at the madman until Ron yawned and stretched.

"We're done," Ron said, standing up with the file firmly in hand. "Come on, Harry, let's see how cooling his heels for a few hours changes our friend's attitude. I could really go for a cuppa, yeah?"

"Yeah," Harry said, satisfied to see McGinn look away from him to fix Ron with a glare. _I'll count that as a win, you bastard,_ he thought as he stood to join his partner. The abrupt cessation of magical pressure when Ron opened the door made his ears pop again and he shook his head at the sensation.

Two Unspeakables stood on either side of the door and Ron nodded to one of them. "All right, Ross?"

Ross nodded back, cocking his head to the now closed door. "He talk yet?"

"Nah. We'll let him sit and stew for a bit. Let us know if he gets up to any shenanigans. Going for a cuppa. Bring you anything?"

"A Guinness would go down a treat right about now," Ross said, his wide grin making him look remarkably less menacing.

"Sorry, mate. If I did that, then I'd be in there with him!" Ron said, pointing with his thumb back at the door. Harry glanced in the window, completely unsurprised to see McGinn staring at the blank wall across from him once more, that snarl back on his face.

Harry jerked awake, eyes wide open in the familiar dark room. _Just a dream, that's all,_ he thought, scrubbing his hands over his face to banish the memory of staring straight into McGinn's mad blue eyes. Glancing over, he was glad to see that Ginny was still asleep on her side, facing away from him.

 _Why are you haunting me? Your soul has been gone for ages—there's no way you could be a ghost now._ Once again, he saw his beautiful, silvery stag harrying the Dementor through the Veil, his stomach roiling at the memory. _Or at that extra slice of pie right before bed._

Harry lay quietly, listening to the house, trying to decide if he should get up and make the rounds. _No. Enough of that. The doors are locked and the Blood Seal is brand-new. You're being ridiculous._ Resolute, he turned onto his side, molding his lanky body to Ginny's small, compact one. Her hair still smelled of honeysuckle to him, but now there were other scents; milk and baby powder mixed in that somehow made her even more attractive.

She shifted her bottom against him and Harry harbored a small hope that she was waking up and more interested in getting up to no good with him, but she seemed to fall into a deeper sleep. He closed his eyes, trying to relax and fall back to sleep, but the effort was completely futile and he slid gently away from Ginny and out of the bed.

Padding quietly down the hall, he peeked into Allie's and then James's rooms, glad to find both boys asleep and especially glad that the quartz stone on James's chest of drawers was dark. Both Ben's and Teddy's rooms were dark and Harry wondered if Teddy was still out with Duncan or if he'd come back in.

 _Ah, well. Let him have his fun,_ he thought as he stepped quietly down the stairs and made the rounds, checking the front door, garage door and French doors that went out into the back garden, squinting into the darkness outside. Sense of duty mollified, he went into the kitchen where he opened the refrigerator, surveying the bounty of neatly-packaged leftovers. _Why did I buy such a huge turkey?_ He pulled out a container of sliced turkey and another one of stuffing. _Well, turkey sandwiches are an American tradition._

A few minutes later, he had a turkey and stuffing sandwich along with a freshly-opened bottle of Newcastle. Sitting at the breakfast bar in the dimly-lit kitchen, he paged through the news on his little tablet. The _Uncanny Examiner_ had recently launched their own site and Harry had found himself wondering if the _Daily Prophet_ would ever follow suit. He rather doubted it.

Not really paying attention to the article about recent thunderbird sightings, Harry found his mind turning to the memory of that interrogation and what McGinn had said to him. _I know what the Dark Lord made you,_ echoed in his memory and ice trickled down his spine once more. He thought back to that moment and how he'd struggled to keep any hint of reaction from his face. _McGinn would have been on me like a rabid dog._

Pushing the half-finished sandwich aside, he took a long swallow of the Newcastle, still pondering the dream of the memory. _Vivid. Just how I remember it._ He absently rubbed the scar on his forehead, almost expecting it to tingle and prickle, glad when it didn't. _Strange. Maybe James's talent isn't so wild …_ Harry shook his head, dismissing the thought as quickly as it had come. _Ridiculous. I'm no Seer._

He heard the sound of someone Apparating into Teddy's room and a moment later, Teddy himself came into the kitchen. "What are you doing up?" he asked, running his fingers through his sandy hair.

"Apparently I haven't eaten enough today and I fancied a bit of a sandwich. You?"

"Same." Teddy yawned and opened the refrigerator, quickly putting together his own sandwich. He sat down next to Harry, popping open a Newcastle.

"Wouldn't you rather have a Coke with that?" Harry asked, eyebrow raised.

"Then the caffeine would keep me up all night. You don't want that, do you?"

"Mm, suppose not. Watch it, though. You know the law is different here, yeah?"

"Yeah. Daft, really. I can buy condoms, but not a beer. Americans."

Harry watched as his godson tucked into his sandwich, trying to decide whether he should take a stab at embarrassing him or not. _Well, he knows what condoms are and goodness knows Ginny taught him all about how to use them,_ he thought, giving an inner grin at the unexpected ups and downs of being raised by a Healer/Doctor. It had been a long while before Teddy could even look at bananas again.

"What did you and Duncan get up to?"

Teddy shrugged and took a bite out of his sandwich. "Hung out with some of the guys."

"And girls?"

"So that Scott guy," Teddy said around a mouthful of turkey sandwich. "What d'you think of him?"

Harry grunted, caught by surprise at the turn of subject. "Seems all right."

"Did you already know he went to Durmstrang?"

"Yeah. He said when Gin and I met him at Jacob's Halloween."

Teddy nodded, chewing thoughtfully. "I wonder what that was like. Do they really teach the Dark Arts there?"

"Well, it's a bit tricky, isn't it?" Harry took a long swallow of his Newcastle as he thought back to his visit to the fabled school. "They do teach a bit of the Dark Arts, but they don't encourage the use of it, yeah? Like, they'll teach you the Unforgivables, but they'll make sure that you know it's illegal to use them on another witch, wizard, Muggle or sentient magical being."

"To what end? I mean, why learn something if you're not going to use it?"

"That's the same question I used to ask my Maths teacher," Harry said, making Teddy laugh out loud. "I suppose it's to make sure they know how Dark the Dark Arts are. If you know what the Cruciatus Curse feels like, how awful it is, maybe you'll hesitate to use it on someone else." _Or maybe you'll just be more eager to use it on someone. Sometimes I wonder what they're playing at over there._

"Sort of how you took us out to the bridge and the Dementors. So we know how awful they are and that we can protect ourselves." Teddy took a swig of his beer and then pointed at Harry with the bottle. "How did you ever get Headmaster Ashborough to agree to that?"

"That was an interesting conversation. I asked him if he'd ever faced a Dementor."

"You didn't."

"I did."

"And?" Teddy leaned forward and stared intently at Harry, beer and last bites of sandwich forgotten for the moment.

"He said he did. He and Mrs Ashborough were walking out on the bridge on a date and they were chased by one."

"So what happened?"

"He said he tried to cast the Patronus but couldn't quite manage it. Said it was Diana that saved them with hers," Harry said, remembering sitting in the headmaster's office trying to convince his boss to allow him to take schoolchildren onto the Golden Gate Bridge in the dead of night to try out their fledgling Patronus Charms on real Dementors. _Madness. But, tradition now._

Teddy sat back and picked up the last of his sandwich, shoving the rest of it into his mouth. "Wow. But he comes every year."

"Yeah. That first year, he was able to cast a corporeal Patronus for the first time," Harry said, seeing the headmaster's silvery rabbit harrying the tattered form of the Dementor in his mind's eye.

"Harry Potter, spreading knowledge wherever he goes." Teddy grinned and punched him in the shoulder. "You gonna finish that?" he asked, pointing to the half-eaten turkey and stuffing sandwich in front of Harry. He pushed the plate towards his godson, smiling as he wolfed it down. "Is it true that they Obliviate you so you don't know how to get to Durmstrang? Did they Obliviate you?"

"Yes, they do and no, they didn't."

Teddy raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically. "How did you avoid Obliviation?"

"I was there on official Auror business. They'd asked me to come and it would have been an international incident to Obliviate a member of another country's Magical Law Enforcement."

"Official business? What were you doing?" Teddy's face fell as Harry remained silent and he finished his beer, grumbling about cagey ex-Aurors who were entirely too secretive for their own good. "Well, I'm heading back to bed. What about you?"

"In a bit. Fancy a run in a morning?" Harry asked as Teddy put the empty plates in the sink and neatly Vanished the empty bottle.

"Urgh," Teddy grunted, sticking his tongue out and putting a hand on his stomach. "I think I'm going to have a bit of a lie-in tomorrow if that's all right with you."

"Perfectly fine." Harry finished the last of his beer and stretched, letting out a yawn. "Actually, I think I'll head up too." Following Teddy up the stairs, he diverted into James's room, checking on his sleeping son. _Still asleep and that stone is dark. Good,_ he thought, looking down at his hands gripping the top rail of the cot. _I must not tell lies_ in old silver caught his eye in the dim light and he heard Scott's voice echoing in his mind.

 _What did you do to earn a turn with a Black Quill?_


	10. Chapter 10

I sat on the park bench with my eyes closed, working on getting into that odd, meditative state Coyote had been coaching me on. "Why don't you do this at home?" Harry had asked and I'd only been able to shrug.

"I don't know. Too many distractions and things to think about, I guess," I'd said, already thinking of the tasks I needed to accomplish in the frenzied run-up to Christmas.

"So instead you're going to go to a park and sit on a bench with your eyes closed." Harry crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at me in that infuriating way he has.

"I am going outside to commune with nature," I said in a superior tone as I picked up my handbag and slung it over my shoulder.

"I see. And how long will you be _communing_?"

"Until I feel like I've communed enough." I tiptoed up to kiss him on his stubbly cheek. "I might do a bit of shopping after. Will you be all right with the terrible twosome?"

Almost as if he knew I was talking about him, James tugged on my jeans. "Mummy," he murmured, burying his face in my thigh.

I bent down and picked him up, nuzzling his cheek. "Jamie gets to stay home and hang out with Daddy! What are you going to do today?"

Harry held out his arms and I passed James over to him, a surge of happiness at the sight of Harry and our son coming over me and once more, I thought of Marella. _I wonder if her pups have shed their skins yet?_ "Oh, I dunno. Maybe we'll go into the garage and do manly things? Build something, yeah?" he said, bouncing James in his arms to make him giggle.

"Oh, manly. So you're going to, what? Drill holes in things? Maybe pound a few nails? Build that shelf you've been talking about?"

Harry snorted at me and shook his head. "Aren't you running late?"

"That's the beauty of communing with nature; you can operate on your own schedule." I tapped him on the nose and spun away when he tried to grab my hand. "See you later!" I blew them both a kiss and skipped out of the door, my heart curiously light in contrast to the overcast gray day.

I could easily have Apparated to the park, but I chose to walk, heading briskly down the pavement, my hands buried inside my coat pockets. A few minutes later, I sat down on a bench that wasn't too close to the playground, not wanting to look like some sort of kook since I didn't have any children with me this time.

I hadn't been able to achieve quite the same state of mind ever since that first time when I'd been guided by Coyote in that café even though I'd tried several times since then. "I'll do it this time," I whispered to myself before closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths.

"Be Quiet," Joe _(no, Coyote)_ had told me that time in the café and I tried very hard to embody the very essence of Quiet as I shut out everything around me, including the chilly December air. _There's no way I'd be doing this outside at home,_ I said to myself, the thought bubbling up through the Quiet I was trying to embrace.

I had a brief flash of what I must look like, sitting on a bench in a park with my eyes closed, but I pushed it away. _This is San Francisco. People see strange things here every single day._ The memory of the water horse came to me and I became convinced that I could once again feel the soft velvet of his muzzle in the palm of my hand. I set that memory aside and focused on breathing and being Quiet and before too long, I felt it.

 _My magic._ Bubbly, fizzy with just the slightest hint of a crackling sensation running all along my skin. Convinced my hair was standing on end, I resisted the urge to touch it, to move at all, lest I upset my hard-won state of mind. _What else is out there?_ I wondered. _Let's find out._

Remembering bumping up against Coyote and the warm, flickering sensation of his magic, I sunk a bit further into my relaxed-yet-aware state, not actively seeking anything out but rather letting things come to me. I remembered one springtime Hogsmeade weekend with Luna when we'd found a cat mum surrounded by kittens and I desperately wanted to pet them, but every time I made a move towards them, they scattered.

"No, you've got to be still and let them come to you," Luna had said, sitting down on her bottom in the tall damp grass Mum had hidden her babies in. She folded her hands in her lap and before I knew it, she was covered in curious kittens. "See? Pretend you're not interested and they'll come to you." She smiled up at me, not bothered in the least by the sharp kitten claws digging into her arms and legs.

A burst of heat came to my cheeks as I recalled my reaction to her statement. _I wonder if that would work with Harry?_ I'd thought as I sat down on my own patch of damp grass, waiting for the kittens to come investigate me.

 _What sort of kittens are around here?_ I sat calmly, feeling my magic singing along my skin and I felt a tiny zing from somewhere over to my left, giving me the impression of a burst of a citrusy sort of taste in my mouth. _Can magic have a taste?_ After that first one, I felt a couple more, one just the barest sensation of a feather brushing my cheek.

After several moments of not getting anything else, I decided I'd better try reining myself in instead of continuing to reach out. _Apparently I'm always reaching out, or at least broadcasting and that's what's getting me into these situations with magical creatures. What's so bad about that, though? I like helping; I'm a Healer for goodness' sake. But, not everything out there is as benign as a mama thunderbird worried about her egg._

Still keeping my breathing even, I focused inwardly on the fizzy sensation of my magic racing along my body, thinking about moving it under the surface of my skin, of sinking it deeper into myself. I found this more difficult than I'd anticipated as my magic seemed to have a mind of its own, resisting all of my efforts to sort of tamp it down.

 _Okay, let's focus on a smaller area._ I visualized my right hand holding my wand, the magic looking like a sort of pale, effervescent light around it. _Go in,_ I thought at it, pleased to see the light begin to contract and sink into my skin until it was barely visible. I was about to move on to my forearm when a blast of heat that was definitely not from my outside environment washed over me.

Startled, I opened my eyes, completely upended from my Quiet state and almost in a state of panic. On the bench next to me was Coyote and I grabbed onto His arm. "Was that you?" I asked, relieved to see His wrinkled old face.

"Was what who?" He asked, dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

"I was being Quiet and working on doing what you said I ought to be doing and I felt …" What? Heat? _No, that wasn't quite it, I don't think, that was only how I perceived it._ "I don't know what I felt, but something happened." I cast my eyes around again, looking for someone out of the ordinary, well more out of the ordinary than a millennia-old deity wrapped up in a blanket, and didn't see anyone.

"Oh?" Coyote made a show of looking around. "No one here but us chickens." I realized He was right. The children that had been playing in the park had gone home and the sun was further down than I thought it ought to be.

"It seems I've been out here longer than I thought," I said, frowning as I looked at my watch. I saw I'd been sitting on the bench for at least two hours, but I didn't feel like it. I shifted around a bit, testing my bum for soreness and it was as if I'd just sat down.

"That's not unusual when you first start being Quiet. Time tends to pass a little differently when you're not paying attention to it." Coyote raised an eyebrow at me and the corner of His mouth went up in the hint of a smile. "I spend a lot of time not really paying any attention to Time. We're not really on speaking terms."

"Why didn't you tell me magic could have a taste?" I asked, setting aside the notion that Coyote could just ignore time.

"Why spoil the fun of discovery? Magic comes in all feelings, colors and flavors. Your godson is very interesting. Sort of like a very young wine that will mellow and get better with age."

"What? How do You—? You know what? Never mind." I held up my hand in front of Him and waved it in His face. "What do you think about that?"

He frowned, His eyes tracking the movement of my fingers before finally smiling. "You did it. Very nice." He took my hand in His, the warm skin of His palm conjuring a vision of a brown landscape dotted with spiky desert trees. "Now, you just need to do it all over the rest of yourself."

"Ugh, getting just my hand to settle down was a lot of work."

"And since when has hard work ever deterred you?"

I thought back to my OWLs, my NEWTs, the arduous Healer qualification and then my mad determination to become a Muggle doctor. "I suppose it never has," I sighed.

"James is still doing well?"

"Yes. The visions still come, but the talisman kicks in and everything's all right." I paused for a moment, trying to formulate my next question. "How often should they be … coming?"

Coyote shrugged in a stunningly unhelpful fashion. "They can be cyclical. Some Seers insisted they were tied to the movement of the planet through the Heavens or if …" He said, trailing off.

"Or if what?" I prompted, a quiver of apprehension in my gut.

"Or if something is going to happen that directly involves the Seer."

"What? What are You saying? Are You saying that something is going to happen to my son?" Panic curled in my stomach, making my heart beat faster.

"Maybe he's going to win the lottery?" Coyote grinned at me, dark eyes disappearing in layers of wrinkles. "Just because a Seer is having visions doesn't strictly mean anything bad is going to happen, Ginny Weasley. Exercise precaution and be alert to anything unusual and all will be well."

Reassured by His calm, I nodded, resolving to head straight home instead of shopping like I'd told Harry I would. I cocked my head at Coyote, getting a questioning look in return. "Why do You call me that? Ginny Weasley. I've been Ginny Potter for several years now."

"Why do you call Me Joe?" He asked in return, adjusting the blanket wrapped around His shoulders.

"Because You told me to," I said, unable to come up with anything else.

"So I did." He rose from the bench and put His hand on top of my head. "Be well, Ginny Weasley."

"Um, You … too …?" I said, speaking to empty air.

XXX

 _Well, that messy business is concluded,_ he thought, a frown of distaste on his face. _At least I finally have my answer._ As he walked down the empty pavement, he cast a glance over to the iconic bright orange bridge. _And this city makes things so convenient. Who knew that Muggles had as much soul as a wizard?_

He nodded absently to a woman passing by him, deep in his own thoughts, trying to decide if he should take another trip over to the underpass where brightly-colored tents huddled and see if anyone was interested in a hot meal. A flash of red hair caught his eye and he turned his head, his heart almost literally skipping a beat at the sight of the red-haired woman on the bench.

 _Sitting there with her eyes closed? What's she on about?_ He tucked himself into the shadow of a building to watch, burrowing a little deeper into his coat, looking to see if she had the children with her. _No pram … the perfect opportunity, but not the one I want …_ He stared at her, expecting her to open her eyes at any moment, but she didn't, cycling through different expressions, alternately smiling, frowning and looking puzzled.

 _She is a beauty,_ he thought, admiring her long hair, casually tucked behind her ears. She couldn't be called tall by any definition, but she had a very trim figure. _Even after squeezing out two children. Some bastards have all the luck._ He continued to stare, recalling her laughter at her godson's stories at the Thanksgiving table.

He'd nearly made up his mind to go over and chat to her when he was briefly distracted by a dog running past, followed by its witless, yelling owner and when he looked back at the bench, the woman already had a companion. A burst of anger went through him and she opened her eyes, looking like a startled rabbit.

 _She knows him … that's the same man that was outside of that café with Potter. The white hair, the blanket … who_ is _he? Another pet Muggle?_ Good mood at finding the woman alone evaporated, he turned around and walked back the way he'd come, settling on finding someone he could coax in out of the cold.

XXX

"Well, that's one down," I said as I came down the stairs, tugging on the bottom of my jumper. "Allie ate like a champ and then passed out."

"Just like his uncle Ron." Harry handed me a spoon with a bit of sauce on it. "Too salty?"

I took the offered taste, savoring the rich, earthy flavor. "No, it's perfect." James was clinging to my legs and I picked him up, nuzzling his neck as he chortled happily. "Did you have a good day with Daddy? Did you do manly things?"

"So many manly things," Harry said, turning the cooker down under the simmering pot. "We went out and tamed lions, ran an obstacle course and went fishing for sharks, didn't we, Jamie?"

"Shawks!" James echoed, reaching for Harry.

"You didn't do any of that, did you?" I passed our son over to him, admiring the two of them together.

"Of course we did. You see that, James? Mummy thinks we sat on our arses all day watching football on the telly."

"Who won?"

"Man City, if you really want to know. How was your _communing_?"

"Quite interesting. I managed to get into the right state of mind and did you know that some magic has a taste?" I took James back from Harry as he turned to pay attention to our dinner, well acquainted with the game of pass the baby.

"Tell me more about this taste," he said, leaning over to peek at something in the oven.

"Well, I was there on the bench, working on being Quiet just like Coyote had said and I finally got it to where I could feel my own magic and I thought to see if I could feel anyone else. I felt Coyote that first time, you know? So I sort of reached out and it was like I'd bitten into a fresh orange!" I spied Stuart sitting quietly by his empty food dish, giving me a pointed look. "It was really strange. I've never had any incidence of synesthesia before," I said, giving him a scoop of kibble.

"Syna-what?" Harry turned around to look at me, arms crossed over his chest.

"Synesthesia. It's where people associate one sort of sensation, like sound or color, with another sensation like taste."

He looked nonplussed for a moment and then nodded. "So, someone could see a color like, erm, purple and taste, I dunno, apples?"

"Yes, something like that. Or they'll see a number and hear music. I suspect Luna has a sort of synesthesia. She said to me once that she didn't like the number eight because it sounded mean." _That's the second time today I've thought of her. I wonder how her and Rolf are getting on?_

"And you've never had anything like that before? But when you were in this state, you tasted oranges? And you didn't taste anything with your own magic?"

I smiled inwardly as Harry asked his questions, working on getting the maximum amount of information out of me that he could. "No. Mine is more of a feeling. Sort of … fizzy, I guess."

Harry smiled at my description of how my magic felt and a goofy grin spread across my face. "You said you felt Coyote. What does he feel like?"

"Like sitting next to a warm fire." James started squirming, so I set him down on the floor, watching as he squatted down next to Stuart, focused on watching him eat. "One other thing I felt was heat, like when you open a hot oven."

Harry opened the hot oven, creating a blast of heat much like I'd experienced earlier. He took out a baking sheet that held a crusty baguette practically dripping with his homemade garlic butter. "This was while you were outside? It wasn't a heater or anything?"

"No. I was at the park on a bench. It startled me and I opened my eyes to look around and there was Coyote, so I suppose it could have been Him." I snatched a piece of too-hot bread and smiled. "It made me wonder what _you_ feel like."

"Yeah?" A slow grin spread over his face and my heartbeat quickened. "Maybe we should experiment sometime."

"Maybe we should." We looked at each other for a breathless eternity, brought back to earth when James started rummaging around the cupboard, dragging out his favorite pot.

"Erm, this is ready," Harry said, turning the fire under the bubbling pot off.

"Excellent! I'm starving. _Communing_ is hard work!" I scooped James up from the floor, depositing him in his high chair by the breakfast bar. Deprived of his pot, he started banging a spoon against the tray, reminding me of the world's tiniest inmate.

Before too long, I was dipping crusty garlic bread into a steaming bowl of Harry's excellent beef stew. James had his own small bowl, considerably less steaming, and he was actually doing a decent job of getting it inside of him instead of all over himself.

"So did you really spend all day watching football?" I asked once I'd taken the edge off my hunger.

"Nah. Lesson plans, mostly. Midterms are coming up and I need to refresh my final exams for all of the years."

"And we know how much you love paperwork." Harry snorted and chose not to answer, focusing on his dinner instead. "Everything all right with James today? No … incidents?"

"I think there might have been one a couple hours before you came home. He was playing on the floor and he sort of looked up and stared off into space for a moment and then he just went back to his trains."

"Did you check the stone?" I looked at James, obviously done eating and now just waving his spoon around, flecks of brown sailing everywhere as he cheered himself on.

Harry shook his head. "I didn't."

"But what if—"

"Gin, we can't think that every single time he spaces out for a second that he's having a vision," Harry said gently. "We can't hover over him, yeah?"

"But what—"

"No. He's going to go to school soon and we won't be there every minute of every day. If we don't let go now, we never will." Harry looked at me over his glasses, eyes serious and I slid my eyes to look at my son, now industriously gnawing on a piece of buttered bread. He saw me looking and grinned, doing his best to show me all of his teeth.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded. "You're right. We can't just walk around behind him with our arms out like we're trying to catch him." My eyes stung and I dabbed at them with my napkin, glad when Harry looked away to give me a bit of privacy. _Coyote,_ I thought, _your little magic rock had better do the job or I'll find your den myself._

"Oh, we got an invite today," Harry said after he'd sensed that I'd gotten myself back together.

"From whom?" I asked, nibbling on another piece of garlic bread.

"Three guesses and the first two don't count."

"Jacob," I sighed. "I figured something like this would be coming soon. When?"

"Hang on, I'll get it." He hopped off the barstool and disappeared into the office. I took the opportunity to peek in the pocket of James's trousers to peer at the rock. It was clear and a wave of relief washed over me. _Maybe he did just space out for a moment._

A moment later, Harry was back, a large, ornate envelope in his hand. "Take a look at that."

I quickly scanned the invitation, skipping the overly flowery language that announced the birth of his daughter, Gillian Coretta Green and her introduction to polite wizarding society. "Hmm, December 20. That's when Ben's here for shopping."

"Shall I send our refusal?"

"No, don't do that. I midwifed, so it'll be strange if I'm not there. RSVP for three. We'll bring Ben. He's met Jacob and Evelyn before and he adores babies."

"You'd better have your speech prepared," Harry said, collecting our bowls and plates. I lifted James out of the high chair, using a napkin to fruitlessly wipe dried gravy off of his face as he thrashed around.

"No doubt I'd be better at speeches than you. In fact, I'm sure James is better at speeches than you." I gave up trying to wipe him off and settled him on my hip. "I'm going to get him cleaned up. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, go on. I'll take care of this," he said, indicating the pot that was still half full and all of the dirty dishes. "Harry Potter, household drudge. If Rita Skeeter could see me now!"

I went up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. "Oh, poor you. Listen, let me get the sprog cleaned up and settled and then maybe you can I can ... experiment," I said, running the tip of my finger down his bare arm.

"I like the sound of that," he murmured, giving me that knicker-dropping smile I adored.

"Good. I'm looking forward to seeing what you might taste like."

Harry snorted, cheeks turning pink as he turned his attention to the pot. "I probably taste like sour grapes."

"We'll see." I swatted him on the bottom and headed for the stairs, bouncing James on my hip. "Let's get you cleaned up and in bed so Mummy and Daddy can have some time together, all right?" James laughed and clapped in agreement, his simple joy infectious.

XXX

 _God, how do Muggles stand having to do every little thing for themselves?_ he thought as he Vanished the mess the man had made all over the carpet. _Down on their knees, scrubbing and blotting and still not satisfied with the result._ The man had apologized profusely, insisting that his stomach wasn't used to good hot food these days, but they both knew it was a lie. _Withdrawal's a hell of a thing to go through._

He'd reassured the man, his new guest, that the mess wasn't anything to worry about and provided him with a sleeping draught, telling him that it would help him relax and take the edge off. The man had believed him, eagerly drinking down the mysterious concoction with a zeal he'd found common in drug addicts.

 _Pitiful, really, but if I'm going to get reproducible results, he's got to have clean blood. Tiresome._ The man was asleep now and would remain so until his blood was clean enough to be getting on with. He poured himself a measure of scotch, a gift from his employer upon the occasion of the birth of his first child, and sat down in his favorite chair.

 _She had been right there, perfect for the taking._ The feeling, that sweet, wonderful feeling that he got when using the Imperius Curse swept over him and he shuddered. _The things I would do, the things I would_ make _her do …_ He had the sensation of a tightening in his trousers as he imagined her compact body underneath his, her long red hair wrapped around his fist as he took his satisfaction from her.

He shook his head. _But no, the woman is a distraction. The child, that's what I want._ Another shiver, this one of delight shot through him and he sighed. _Oh, they'll have the raising of him, but I'm sure it won't be the delight they thought it would be. How wonderful could it be, raising an empty husk?_

He held up his glass, admiring the play of the light through the amber colored liquid and toasted himself. _No, nothing in their lives will ever be delightful again._


	11. Chapter 11

"Does this look good enough to meet the cream of San Francisco wizarding society in?" Ben asked, executing a snappy twirl in front of me.

"Hmm, give me another spin," I said, crossing my arms across my chest. He obliged, flashing me a boyish grin. "The jeans are good, I like the boots, the shirt and jacket, but I can't help but think the outfit would all look better if someone else was wearing it."

Ben let out an undignified squawk as he tossed his head dramatically, putting his hand against his heart and fixing me with a wide-eyed look. "And to think I thought you were my best friend," he said in a wounded voice.

"You look fabulous, love," I said, hugging him.

"Are you sure I won't look out of place? What if everyone else is in robes?"

"No one else will be in robes, especially out here. Robes are much too stodgy for the west coast wizard," I said. "Harry only really drags his out for school dances these days and not always then."

"Will it be okay for me to be there? You won't get in trouble or anything?" he asked, still looking doubtful.

"You'll be fine. No one even has to know you're a Muggle. You don't even have to say anything about being a Muggle and people will just assume you're a wizard." I left the guest room and headed down the hall to our bedroom. "Now I need to figure out what I'm going to wear."

"You think I can pass for a wizard? What if I do this?" He tilted his head back and looked down his nose at me, lifting his lip in a disdainful snarl.

"Oh God, don't do that. You remind me of Draco!" I opened my closet door and started looking through my things, unable to find anything that I felt like wearing.

"Draco … Draco … oh! He's the one Harry said bragged about almost going to that other school." Ben elbowed me aside and started shoving hanging items back and forth.

"Yes. And a complete spoilt git, coward and generally all-around unpleasant person." I sat on the bed and tried not to get hit in the face by the things he was flinging out of the closet. "What are you worried about? You've met Jacob and Evelyn before."

"I don't know," Ben sighed, turning away from the closet to look over his selections on the bed. "Sometimes I feel like I don't really belong with you and Harry and Teddy. Like I know things I shouldn't know."

I frowned, thinking back to that awful time when we'd been attacked by a wizard who didn't think magicals and Muggles should be friends. "Has someone said something or done something?" I asked quietly. With Ben living down south now, I couldn't keep as close tabs on him as I'd like and I couldn't help but worry about him all by himself in the wilds of West Hollywood.

"Oh, goodness, no." He picked up a dress with a very low-cut neckline and grimaced, tossing it to the side. "No, sometimes I just get in my own head about some things."

"Well, don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Just be your charming, sparkling self and you'll be fine." I wrinkled my nose at the overly matronly skirt he was holding up and shook my head. "I'm not wearing that."

"What's Harry wearing?"

"Let's find out." I went out into the hall and leaned over the rail, the sounds of video game mayhem reaching my ears. "Harry, you're needed," I called.

"Just a minute!" he called back and a moment later I heard Teddy groan in dismay.

"Cheater!" he yelled as Harry bounded up the stairs.

"Sore loser!" Harry tossed back over his shoulder. "What do you need, love?"

"I need to figure out what I'm wearing," I said, leading him into the bedroom.

"Isn't that what Ben's for?" Harry eyed the clothing-covered bed, sweeping aside a sequin-spangled bit of cloth to sit on the corner.

"What are you wearing tonight?" Ben asked, now in the deepest, unexplored recesses of my closet.

"Um, well, I hadn't really thought. What's wrong with this?" He gestured to the thoroughly washed-out jeans and old, shapeless polo shirt he had on.

"You can't be serious," Ben and I chorused, getting a surprised look from Harry. Ben shook his head. "You can't wear that to one of Jacob's parties."

"It's just a baby party, isn't it?" he grumbled.

"Well now I have the two of you to dress. Back to the drawing board." Ben turned back to the closet and now started going through Harry's things, lamenting the plethora of boring work shirts.

Harry stood up and swept his fingers through his hair. "Well, I'm going to go back to eviscerating Teddy while you do … whatever it is you're doing, all right?"

"Off with you, then," I said, raising my cheek for his kiss. A few moments later, the sounds of electronic gunfire drifted up to the room.

"What about this?" Ben held out a lovely cashmere jumper I'd quite forgotten about. I didn't wear it very often because the dark charcoal color picked up Stuart's white hairs very easily, even when I hadn't been anywhere near him.

I reached out, rubbing the soft sleeve between my thumb and forefinger. "With what?" The deep vee of the neck didn't really lend itself to being worn alone, especially with my breasts in their current state. Ben rifled through the closet and presented me with a white button down with a subtle blue pinstripe.

"And then these," he said, handing me a pair of dove gray trousers.

"A bit monochromatic, isn't it?"

"Your red hair will make up for it. Now, for that husband of yours …" Harry was apparently much easier to sort out than I was because it took Ben only five minutes to put together an ensemble for him, laying it out on the bed. Ben dusted off his hands and settled them on his hips. "Oh, thank you ever so much, Ben!" he said in a ridiculously high voice. "Oh, pshaw! You're welcome. All in a gay's work!"

"I don't sound like that!" I protested, throwing a sparkly top at him. "And that accent is terrible!"

"Get dressed. I'll send Harry up. I want to see that baby!" A few moments later, Harry came in and closed the door.

"What am I wearing?" he asked, standing behind me and putting his warm hands on my bare shoulders, his breath tickling the small hairs behind my ear.

"That depends on what we're doing," I murmured, turning around to face him. He grinned down at me, sliding his hands down to my hips.

"What if we're pretending that Ben isn't waiting for us downstairs?"

"Oh, in that case …" I slid my hands underneath his horrible old shirt, trailing my fingers up and down his ribs as he leaned down to kiss me. We stood there, lips fastened together as our hands roamed up and down, steadily becoming naughtier and naughtier until Harry gave my bum a hard squeeze. I broke away from his lips as I squeaked in surprise and smacked him on his bottom.

"What was that for?" he asked, giving me an impish grin as he pulled his shirt off over his head.

"You very well know what it was for! Now let's get dressed so we can go to this party, see this baby and then come home," I said, shrugging on the blue pinstripe shirt and quickly buttoning it up.

"And then what are we going to do?" Harry pulled on his shirt and dropped his old jeans, tugging on the nicer, darker jeans Ben had picked out for him.

I didn't answer right away since I was in the middle of pulling the jumper on over my head, but once I'd got myself sorted, I sauntered up to him in all of my trouserless glory and looked up into his eyes. "We are going to come home and cast the mother of all Imperturbable Charms on this room and you are going to shag me so hard I forget my own name." I took a step back and crossed my arms. "Or I'm going to shag you. I'll let you know what I decide."

He raised his eyebrows and the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile as he finished buttoning up his shirt. "All right. Shall I alert the media?"

"Not this time."

Harry grinned and kissed the tip of my nose. "I love you."

"I know," I said, hoping that I wasn't turning as red as a tomato. His look of satisfaction told me that hope was in vain, however. _Sometimes he can still make me blush,_ I thought as I finished getting dressed.

XXXX

"All right, we'll have our phones, so if anything happens, make sure to call, all right?" Ginny said, a tinge of anxiety coloring her voice.

"And what should I do if a ghostly Viking horde materializes in the middle of bath time?" Teddy asked, leaning casually against the back of the sofa. Harry hid his chuckle with a fake cough, catching a sideways glance from Ben.

"Gin," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders, "you leave them with Sarah and Archimedes all the time."

"Yes, but they've raised children before. This one … you'd better not have any children we don't know about."

Teddy blinked several times and Harry could almost see him scrolling through different responses before finally shaking his head and engulfing Ginny in his lanky arms. "We'll be fine. Go on and socialize with other adults for once."

"Hey, I'm an adult," Ben said, balancing James on his hip.

"Barely," Ginny and Teddy said together, drawing an outraged "Hey!" from him.

"Hand him over." Teddy reached out and took James from Ben. "Say bye bye to Mummy and Daddy. They're going to a party and we're not. We're staying home and eating cold gruel."

"You're an even bigger drama queen than I am," Ben snorted, mussing James's chronically untidy hair.

Harry handed Ginny her coat and helped her into it. "Okay, well, um. Let us know if he … you know."

"Gin, he'll be fine. It's just a few hours, yeah?" Harry looked at his godson holding his oldest son, the baby captivated by the young man rapidly changing the color of his hair. "No guests, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Teddy wave his hand dismissively. "See you around midnight?"

"Or earlier, depending on what sort of form Jacob is in. You know I can take only so much of him," Harry said, taking Ginny's hand.

"Jacob's fun. Did you know I thought he was gay when I first met him?" Ben said, taking Harry's other hand.

"Everyone thinks that," Ginny said, kissing both James and Teddy on their cheeks. "You two be good!"

"Mummy!" James squealed as they Apparated silently out of the house and to the designated Apparation point two blocks away from Jacob's mansion.

"Why couldn't we have come closer?" Ben grumbled as they walked quickly towards the well-lit house in the cold evening air.

"Minimum safety perimeter," Harry said, squeezing Ginny's hand in his. "No Apparating unless you can Apparate directly into the house past the Blood Seal."

"Huh. How big is yours?"

"Bigger than Jacob's," Harry said, giving Ben a sly wink.

"Boys," Ginny snorted, her breath white in the cold air. A few minutes later, they were ushered into the lovely warmth of the foyer of Jacob's mansion. A liveried house-elf took their coats and ushered them towards the grand ballroom.

"Mr Jacob and Miss Evelyn are with Miss Gillian in the ballroom," he squeaked, a note of pride evident in his voice.

They followed the sound of party chatter toward the ballroom and stopped in the doorway, brought up short at the sight of the decorations. Streamers, bunting and balloons all in varying shades of pink dominated the room and Harry resisted the impulse to rub his eyes in disbelief.

"Is that a floating baby?" Ben asked, gesturing towards the ceiling. An idealized baby girl in a nappy and pink bonnet crawled through the air, putting Harry in mind of an infant Godzilla.

"Looks like," Ginny said. "I wonder if that's one of George's products?"

"Welcome!" Jacob boomed, moving towards them with his arms spread wide. In contrast to the decorations, he was the picture of taste in a charcoal gray suit with a pale pink silk tie. Harry stood to one side as the proud new father enfolded Ginny in a tight hug, raising an eyebrow at Ben when Jacob finally let go of her, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I know I've told you before, but I just can't help but be grateful that you ushered my wife and daughter through such a dangerous time," he said with his typical bombast.

"Jacob, it was truly my pleasure," Ginny said, the tips of her ears turning red. "Evelyn was a champion and you were her rock."

Ego stroked, Jacob smiled and turned to Harry, shaking his hand. "Harry, thank you for coming to our little soiree. And your guest! Ben, correct?"

Ben shook Jacob's hand, pumping it up and down enthusiastically. "Yes, thank you for remembering little old me. Me and Ginny graduated medical school together."

"Ah, yes. If I recall, your speciality was pediatrics, was it not?"

"Why yes! Good memory!" Ben said, clearly pleased that Jacob remembered that much about him.

"This is most fortuitous!" Jacob slung his arm around Ben's shoulders and led him deeper into the ballroom. "As it happens, I have some questions for someone of your expertise …"

Harry turned to Ginny and took her hand. "Well, that's Ben's evening," he said, feeling sorry for their friend.

"Oh, Ben will find a way to get out from under Jacob." She squeezed Harry's hand and gave him a conspiratorial grin. "Let's see what we can find to drink."

Hand in hand, they wandered toward the bar, nodding and waving to various acquaintances along the way. "No Scott," Ginny remarked, spying the house-elf stationed behind the bar, quickly making drinks and looking very much at home doing it.

Harry scanned the crowd, looking for Jacob's assistant and spotted him all the way across the room, near where Evelyn stood next to a bassinet that was decorated in an explosion of pink. _The only thing it's missing is a flashing sign that says 'baby',_ Harry thought in wry amusement.

"Good evening, sir. What can Duffy make for you? We are having a very nice Balvenie 21 years," the house-elf said, wiping his hands on a clean white towel.

"We'll have two," Archimedes said, coming up to stand next to Harry.

"There you are! I was wondering if you were actually coming or if you just said you were so you and Sarah could have a quiet night at home without our two running you ragged," Harry said, thumping Archimedes on his back.

"Well, I did float the idea, but my girl was having none of it," Archimedes said, nodding at Sarah on the other side of Ginny, the two of them already chatting away.

"Oh, you old grump," she admonished. "If it were up to you, we'd never leave the house."

"And what's wrong with that? I can think of a lot of things we can do indoors." Archimedes grinned at his wife, waggling his gray bushy eyebrows up and down, making Harry break out into a bark of laughter.

"Come on, my dear. Let's go see this baby you helped birth," Sarah said, handing Ginny a glass of wine. Harry watched as Archimedes reached for Sarah as she passed, nuzzling her ear and making her giggle. He caught Ginny's eye and shared a smile with her, hoping that when they were old and gray they'd still be as smitten with each other as Sarah and Archimedes seemed to be.

"Man can't live by whiskey alone; let's go see what nibbles Jacob has made available." Archimedes led the way to the buffet table which held a startling array of pink-themed food. They each piled a plate and made their way to a somewhat quiet corner, nodding to acquaintances as they passed.

"Seems like just about everyone from the Bay Area is here to see Jacob's little girl," Harry remarked, charming his loaded plate to float in front of him.

Archimedes grunted and gestured at a gentleman that was at least a head taller than those around him. "That's Niklas Muronen, the Finnish Minister for Magical Trade. I heard he's in town to work on a deal for your brother-in-law's products."

"Huh. I wonder if George knows Jacob is cutting deals for him?" Harry mused. "I'll have to ask him about it over Christmas." A flash of blond hair caught his eye and he nodded toward the raised dais where Ben held baby Gillian, surrounded by women. "Well, Ben managed to work himself free from Jacob. Well done."

"Oh, Ben's here? I'll be sure to say hello."

"Yeah, he and Gin are doing a final Christmas shopping push this weekend. I'm just glad it's him and not me." Harry watched Ben and Ginny pass the baby Gillian back and forth and he frowned, remembering his last chat with Abraham. "Hey, have you heard anything about any disappearances around?"

"Hm? What kind of disappearances?" Archimedes asked after taking a sip of his whiskey.

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Transients, I guess? I ran into Abraham the other day and he mentioned a couple that no one had seen around in a while."

"Muggles, I assume?"

"Yeah. Not too many homeless wizards around." _Unless you count an ancient deity, but I suppose He only_ looks _homeless. He does have a den, after all._

Archimedes shook his head. "No, I haven't heard anything. You know how that population comes and goes." He gave Harry a shrewd look. "Abraham, huh? Still keeping your hand in?"

"I just find it useful to know what's going on," Harry said, savoring the burn of the whiskey down his throat.

"You'd know a lot more if you'd come work for me."

"Not going to happen. I'd end up on your couch because Gin'd throw me out on my arse."

"I think you're exaggerating," Archimedes snorted. _Not by much,_ Harry thought, remembering that awful time he'd answered Archimedes's surprise Summons and returned to find Ginny gone and his bags packed.

Up on the dais, he saw Ben and Scott with their heads together and he raised his eyebrows, catching Ginny's eye from across the room. She shrugged and grinned back at him, tilting her head toward the pair. _Huh, maybe our Scott's more open than he let on at Thanksgiving._ "Sorry?" Harry said as he realized that Archimedes was still talking to him.

"Have you been out to the Bridge lately?"

Harry frowned, wondering why Archimedes would be talking about bridges. "Um, which one?"

"Golden Gate." Harry shook his head and Archimedes went on. "We've noticed a bit of an uptick in Dementors out on the bridge."

"Yeah? Odd. Jumpers?" Harry asked, realizing his plate of nibbles was empty.

"No more than usual for this time of year."

"How many are out there?"

"We counted twenty a week ago."

Harry sucked in a breath between his teeth. "Twenty? And there haven't been more jumpers? Are you sure?"

"Our Coast Guard and SFPD contacts keep us informed. There've been ten attempts and two successes so far this month."

"That doesn't seem like enough to really attract that many, yeah?"

"It doesn't. We're a bit perplexed at the department."

"Why are you asking me, then?"

"I'm just making conversation. You're the one asking all the questions."

Harry shook his head and grabbed the floating plate, heading over to the buffet table to reload. _I'll have to head out to the bridge and take a look myself. That's too many Dementors too close to us. I'll have to go see for myself,_ he thought as he helped himself to more barbecue meatballs.

"Oh, what have you found?" Ginny asked, sidling up next to him and plucking a meatball from his plate. "Tasty."

"How's the baby?" Harry asked, adding a layer of cheese slices to his plate.

"She's just adorable. Dark hair, big blue eyes and just the cutest little nose. Evelyn says that she's already a good sleeper and hardly ever cries." Ginny crossed her arms and gave a little sigh, a wistful expression on her face.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Harry asked, eyebrow raised.

"Hm? Oh! Goodness, no." Ginny smiled up at him and put her hand on his cheek. "I think I need a bit longer between Allie and whoever comes next. I'd like to have at least one potty trained so I only have to change two nappies."

 _Whoever comes next? Blimey!_ Harry's thoughts were in a momentary whirl at the realization that Ginny wanted at least one more child. The sounds of applause intruded on his thoughts and he looked to see Jacob hoisting his daughter in his arms for the crowd's admiration. _Maybe one day …_

Coming back to the here and now, Harry realized that Jacob was indeed making a speech and he rolled his eyes at Ginny, getting a poke in the ribs in return. It was his turn to laugh when Jacob caught sight of her and called her up to the dais. "Ginny! Come on up and let me thank you in front of everyone!"

"You're being summoned," Harry murmured as everyone in the room turned to look at them, smiling expectantly.

"Oh, God," Ginny sighed. "This is all your fault."

"Mine? How do you figure that?"

"I'll let you know when I've got it," she said, kissing him on the cheek and walking through the torrent of applause towards the dais.

"How does it feel to see someone else get the glory?"

Harry turned to see Scott standing next to him, looking very relaxed with a glass of wine in his hand. "Sorry?"

Scott gestured with his wineglass to Jacob practically fawning over Ginny while Evelyn looked on, holding baby Gillian. "Seems like it's another Potter's turn in the limelight."

"Oh. Well, I can honestly say that being in the spotlight was never my favorite thing," Harry said.

"Are you saying that you didn't enjoy it when the Ministry congratulated you on solving a tough case or bringing in some dastardly wizard that was bent on destruction?" Scott took a swallow of his wine and Harry noticed that he already looked quite flushed, spots of color high on his cheeks.

"Erm, not really, no. I just wanted to do my job." Harry shifted a little, memories of award banquets and newspaper interviews coming to the surface.

Scott raised his eyebrow speculatively. "Not even when they gave you that Order of Merlin?"

"Not even then." He remembered standing up in front of what seemed like was the entire wizarding population in dress robes that he was sure were going to strangle him at any second; the only thing that made the whole ordeal bearable was knowing that Ron and Hermione were feeling much the same. That and the sight of a certain redhead in the sea of people watching as the newly-elected Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt pinned a bright and shiny medal to their chests.

Scott opened his mouth to say something, but Harry cut him off, eager for a change in subject. "So I was chatting to Archimedes Douglass earlier and he was mentioning an uptick in the number of Dementors out at the bridge. Have you noticed anything?"

"Why would I notice anything about Dementors?" Scott asked after a short pause.

"Well, you were out there that day before Thanksgiving, yeah? Having a little look-see."

"Mm, yes. No, I wasn't really counting them that day. As I recall, I saw only the one." He took another sip of wine, staring up at Jacob now presenting Ginny with a ridiculously large gift basket. "How many Dementors did Mr Douglass say there were?"

"Twenty, I think? I was going to go over to the bridge myself for a look. Care to come along?"

"When are you thinking of going?"

"Probably won't have time until after the new year."

Scott pursed his lips and nodded. "You're going to England for the hols?"

"Yeah. It's good to see everyone and just as good to come home." Ginny was stepping down from the dais, giant basket floating in front of her as she headed towards Harry, cheeks pink with embarrassment. "What about you?"

"I'm staying here. No real family to go home to since my dad passed. Jacob's been running me ragged finalizing arrangements for his massive New Year's Eve party." He heaved a dramatic sigh and finished his wine. "Between entertaining what seems like the entire city and business associates, I feel more like a social director rather than a true assistant."

"Harry! Look at this ridiculous basket! Can you believe Jacob gave me this thing?" Ginny said, trying to find an out-of-the-way spot for it and failing horribly, nearly hitting Harry in the face with its cellophane-wrapped grandiosity.

"Wait until you open that thing up and really start looking inside," Scott said, giving her a wide smile. "I spent a lot of time curating that basket, so I hope you like it!"

"Oh, I'm sure I will!" Ginny smiled back at him and looked around. "Where's Ben?"

"We chatted a bit and then he went to go get a drink." Scott got an unfocused look in his eyes and nodded as if to someone else. "Sorry, I'm being summoned by the big man. Let me know when you want to get a look at those Dementors," he said before bustling off into the crowd, clearly a man on a mission.

"Dementors?" Ginny asked, wrinkling her nose. "What's that about?"

"Archimedes said there seemed to be more Dementors than usual hanging about on the bridge when we were chatting earlier." Harry realized his glass was empty and shrunk down Ginny's huge gift basket, putting it in the pocket of his jeans.

"Now no one will be jealous of my basket," Ginny pouted as they made their way to the bar.

"Oh, I'm sure they're all still burning with envy. Another glass of wine?"

"No, I'd better not. Seltzer with lime, please. Now, are you going to tell me all about how you're not going to go to the bridge and see these Dementors for yourself?" she asked when he handed her the glass of sparkling water.

"What makes you think I'm going to do that?" Harry nodded his thanks at the efficient house-elf bartender and sipped his whiskey, grinning in anticipation of his wife having a good wind-up.

"Let's see … number one, you're Harry Potter," Ginny said, holding up one finger. "Number two, you're Harry Potter and number three, I just heard Scott tell you to let him know when you're going out there."

"That's hardly conclusive evidence. You'd never get it admitted into court."

Ginny snorted and shook her head, the very picture of wifely exasperation. "I wish you'd leave the damn things alone. Bad enough you take your students out there to practice on them."

"That's coming up sooner than you think. I need to know what the situation is, don't I?"

"Situation for what?" Ben asked, startling Ginny.

"There you are! Where did you disappear off to?" she said, relief in her voice.

"A gentleman never kisses and tells," Ben said, putting his finger against his lips, his blue eyes dancing mischievously. "What situation are we talking about? Did Teddy call? Are the boys all right?"

"The boys are fine. This one," Ginny said, pointing at Harry, "is making plans to skip off to the Golden Gate Bridge to have a little Dementor head count."

Ben frowned and pursed his lips. "Dementors. Those are those things that soul … sucking?"

"Yes. Archimedes mentioned that there were a few more than usual, that's all." Harry handed Ben a glass of wine and moved them a bit further away from the bar which was becoming more crowded now that all of the speeches were over.

"Well, can't you just … them?" Ben asked, waving his hand vaguely in the air.

"You can't really kill them, just sort of discourage them from hanging about."

"So why are there more than usual?"

Harry swirled the whiskey in his glass, the sharp smell of it making him wrinkle his nose. "That's got me wondering, too. The jumpers can draw them, but Archimedes said there haven't been more than usual." He shrugged and took a swallow of his drink. "I'll go take a look and see if I can figure out what the deal is."

"Isn't that Archimedes's job?" Ben asked, looking between Harry and Ginny.

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at Harry, a satisfied smile on her face. "Yes, isn't it his job to take care of all the little nasties in The City?"

Harry's face warmed in a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol and he grunted noncommittally, letting Ginny have her little victory. Triumphant, she turned to Ben and asked him if he'd seen Jacob giving her the marvelous gift basket, "Or were you otherwise indisposed?" she said, clearly trying to wheedle out the name of who he might have been snogging.

Harry let the party swirl around him, listening to his wife and her best friend exchange gossip, watching Jacob and Evelyn making the rounds, baby Gillian down for the night. They made a striking couple, Evelyn nearly matching her husband in height and Harry didn't doubt that their daughter would grow up to rival them. Thinking of the baby made him think of his own sons and a small rush of anxiety went through him as he thought of James and the difficult road in front of him. _Coyote, You better not be playing up Your ability to train my son and keep him from going mad._


	12. Chapter 12

"Auror Potter, I trust your journey was agreeable?" the matron asked as she led him through the stone hallways.

"It was … interesting. Thank you for asking, Frau Blücher," Harry said, keeping pace with the shorter woman.

"I'm sure you know our normal stipulation for visiting our school." She gave him a sidelong glance and he smiled. "But, Headmaster Nicinski has decided that won't be necessary."

"I'm certainly grateful that I won't be Obliviated today," Harry said, slowing down as a symbol carved into the wall caught his eye. _Grindelwald's mark indeed._

She stopped at an imposing wooden door and turned to face Harry. "He's waiting for you in here. Auror Potter …" Frau Blücher looked down at her clasped-together hands. "He's just a boy."

Harry put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. "I'm just here to ask a few questions and get some things cleared up. No one's accusing Iain of anything, all right?"

Looking a bit red-eyed, she nodded and knocked on the door before opening it. Inside, a young man in the gray woolen Durmstrang uniform sat ramrod straight in a chair behind a large wooden table. He looked up when the door opened and Harry saw his eyes flick up to the scar on his forehead and then back down. "Iain, this is Auror Potter. He'll be asking you a few questions. Answer him as best you can."

Iain nodded, glancing back at Harry once more. "Thank you, Frau Blücher," Harry said, stepping forward into the room. "I'll send you a message when we're done." He steered the woman out of the room and closed the door, sitting down in the other chair. He opened his battered old satchel and took out a manila folder, setting it down on the table between them. Iain looked down at it before looking back up at Harry, only his eyes moving.

"So, Iain, your last year of school, yeah?" Harry asked, careful to keep his tone conversational.

"Yes, sir."

"What's your favorite subject? Mine was Defense."

Iain shifted in his seat. "Potions, sir," he said in the same monotone.

Harry sighed inwardly. These interviews were always so much more difficult when the interviewee was on guard. "What are your plans for when you leave Durmstrang? Are you going to get right to work or take some time off and see a bit of the world?" Iain didn't answer and Harry picked up the folder, looking through the contents. _Maybe if I'm not staring right at him, he'll calm down some._ "I went right into the Aurors after I left Hogwarts. Didn't really even take the full summer off." He shook his head ruefully. "If I knew then what I know now…"

"My Da said I could be a great potions master," Iain finally said after a long silence.

"Yeah? There's a lot of money to be made in potions." Harry put down the folder and leaned forward a little, inviting Iain into his confidence. "Did you know that my grandad _invented_ Sleekeazy's Hair Potion?"

Having been drawn in by the prospect of learning a secret, Iain now leaned back. "What? Are you having me on? My mum used that."

"It's the truth," Harry said, sitting back. "I'd never even heard of the stuff until one of the girls at school started using it." He ran his fingers through his perpetually unruly hair. "Maybe I should give it a try, yeah?" The corner of Iain's mouth twitched up a little and Harry felt himself begin to relax. "Who knows? Maybe you'll invent a new remedy for spots?"

"We learned how to brew love potions this year," Iain said eagerly. "When we tested them, mine was one of the few that actually worked."

 _What the buggering fuck? They made_ Amortentia _and tested it? Holy shit._ "Really? You should be proud; _Amortentia_ is notoriously difficult to get just right."

"I had to test the one my friend Moritz made and it made me vomit!"

 _Thank God they didn't try them out on girls._ "That must have been unpleasant."

"It wasn't fun, sir."

"You mentioned your mum using the potion earlier; was her hair very curly?"

Harry could see that the mention of his mother gave Iain pause and he shook his head. "Not very, sir. She just liked to look her best when her and my dad would go out to … things."

"How old were you when she passed?" he asked quietly.

"I was ten, sir." Iain paused for a moment. "She was sick for a long time. Dad took her to hospital, but they couldn't do anything for her."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Losing a parent is hard." _Even if you lose them before you know them._ Iain nodded in agreement, not really seeing him at the moment. Harry picked up the manila folder again. "Iain, I know you know why I'm here."

Iain nodded and lost some of his relaxed posture, but Harry was gratified to see that he wasn't sitting as straight as he had been when he first came into the room. "Yes sir," he said quietly, dark eyes wary.

"I need to ask you some questions and I need you to be truthful. Do you think you can do that?" Iain nodded, silent this time. "Very good." Harry smiled reassuringly at the young man. "Did you ever hear your father talk about hurting people?"

"No, sir."

"Did you ever see your father hurt anyone?"

"No, sir."

"Did he ever speak poorly of Muggles or encourage you to?"

Iain frowned and shook his head. "No, sir."

"Did you ever see him make any sort of devices or charms?"

"Charms, sir? He used charms all the time around the house."

"You ever see anything that looked like a little man made out of sticks?" Harry clarified.

"Oh. No, sir."

"Did he ever take any of your blood?"

"No. Why would he need my … blood?"

Harry ignored the question. "Were there areas of the house that you were never allowed into? Any strange sounds or smells?"

"My da had his workroom that he could be a bit particular about, but … no."

Harry closed the manila folder and tucked it back into his old satchel. "All right. Thank you, Iain."

"We're done?" Iain asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes. Unless there's something else you'd like to tell me?" Harry looked up at Iain, trying to meet his eyes for a last try at Legilimancy; his previous efforts hadn't been fruitful.

"No, sir. I … what happens next?"

"Well, there will be a trial before the Wizengamot. They'll look at all of the evidence, including your answers today and make a decision."

"How … how long?"

Harry shrugged. "It's hard to say. Sometimes these things go quickly." He cast his Patronus, the ghostly stag galloping straight through the wooden door.

"Your Patronus is a stag?" Iain asked, voice full of wonder.

"Yeah. What about yours?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't been able to cast the spell successfully."

"Well, keep trying. It took me most of a year. You'll get it." Harry smiled at him encouragingly just as a knock sounded on the door.

Frau Blücher opened the door, relief at seeing Iain whole and unharmed plain on her face. _What did she think I was going to do to him?_ "All done, Auror Potter?" she asked, coming to stand next to Iain, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, thank you." Harry stood and slung his satchel across his chest.

"Headmaster Nicinski has invited you to have lunch with him in his office."

Harry groaned inwardly. Durmstrang food did not have the greatest reputation and his stomach was still a little upset from the ordeal of traveling to the school. "I'd be delighted," he said, smiling at the matron.

XXX

Iain huddled inside of his school uniform, glad for the warmth of the well-made woolens. Like the school itself, they were far from flashy, but did the job well. He took another drink of steaming hot tea, enjoying the warmth that seemed to go all the way down to his toes, thinking of the upcoming spring holidays. His friend Moritz had invited him to stay with him and his family at their lake house and he reminded himself to send an owl to his father that day.

Feeling warmed up by the tea, he turned his attention his porridge, eyeing the dull mass of it in his bowl. _Generous, healthy, but so bland,_ he thought. _Nothing like Mum's used to be._ He closed his eyes, fancying that he could almost smell her porridge again. _Covered in fruit and cream and sometimes even golden syrup …_ Sighing, he opened his eyes and began shoveling in the plain porridge that served as the usual breakfast at Durmstrang.

"Hey, you're sending an owl to your dad today, right?" Moritz asked as he sat down next to Iain, adding a generous measure of salt to his porridge.

Iain nodded and swallowed down the porridge that was nothing like his mum used to make. "Yeah, I'll do it at break. I am of age, so it doesn't really matter, but he'll appreciate knowing where I am." _At least the Ministry allows him to receive mail and discharge his fatherly duties while they're keeping him locked up,_ he thought bitterly.

"This is going to be great. I'll teach you how to fish. The lake that the cabin is on has fantastic fishing," Moritz said, inhaling his porridge so quickly that Iain doubted he was even tasting it. _Not that there's much to taste._

They fell into chatting about their plans for the upcoming spring break, talking excitedly about the warming weather, fishing, hiking and the opportunity to menace Moritz's younger sisters. Iain was so involved in the conversation that he didn't notice the footsteps coming towards him, echoing off the bare stone walls of the main hall.

Iain was trying to hold in his laughter as Moritz described the time he had his middle sister convinced that Care of Magical Creatures was taught by a real live bear. "She was bugging Mother all summer for honeycombs and stashing them in a jar, absolutely sure that she was going to be the teacher's pet!"

"Excuse me, Iain," said a quiet voice next to him and he turned, surprised to see Frau Blücher standing there, hands clasped in front of her.

Iain stood and bowed. "Yes, Frau Blücher?" he asked, a spurt of anxiety shooting through him. He mentally reviewed his past week, searching for any transgressions that the matron might have learned about, but coming up empty.

"Would you come with me, please? Headmaster would like to see you," she said and he heard Moritz suck in a breath behind him. Numb, Iain could only nod and follow her out of the main hall, his heavy boots on the stone floor the only thing he could hear.

The stairs up to Headmaster Aleksander Nicinski's office seemed to go on forever, but Iain honestly wouldn't have minded if the trip really _had_ taken forever because then … _It must have been because of that thing in the library. I knew that would come back on me. I never should have listened to Jan. He's been trying to get me kicked out for ages._

All too soon, they stood in front of the impressively carved door of the headmaster's office, Frau Blücher knocking quietly. The door opened without a sound and she ushered him in, giving him an oddly gentle smile as he passed. "Ah, Iain," Headmaster Nicinski said, dabbing at his mouth with a fine white cloth. "Please, have a seat."

Not knowing what else to do, Iain sat, desperately thinking how he might plead his case, telling the headmaster that releasing all of the chained books in the Advanced Studies section hadn't been his idea and he was deeply sorry that they'd flown around, mad with freedom and made such a mess for the librarian. _It wasn't my idea, sir. You should really be talking with Jan Solak, not me,_ he thought as the headmaster looked at him.

"Iain," he said, his deep voice serious, "I'm afraid there's not really any way to make this any easier."

 _Oh God, that's it. I'm done here. I'll have to finish at Hogwarts. Da is going to be so disappointed._ "Sir I—" he began, stopping when Headmaster Nicinski raised his hand.

"Iain, we've received news about your father." He looked down at his desk and rearranged a few sheets of parchment. "He received the Dementor's Kiss late last night." Iain's ears began to ring and he stared back at the headmaster who was looking at him not unkindly. "You may have the day off from your studies. To remember him."

Shaking his head as if to clear it, Iain seized on the last words the headmaster said. "To remember him?" he slowly, feeling like his mouth was full of cotton wool. "But, he's not dead. Just … Kissed."

Headmaster Nicinski favored him with a pitying look and he shook his head. "Iain, Kissed is as good as. We both know there's no coming back from it. Take the day off, do whatever you like," he said gently, making it sound as if it were his birthday or some other holiday. "If you'd like to make any … arrangements …" The headmaster trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"Um, all right," Iain said after sitting in the chair for several dazed moments. Headmaster Nicinski turned his attention to his papers, clearly dismissing him. He started to get up and sat back down. "Sir," he said, waiting until the headmaster looked back up at him. "What happens to me now?"

XXX

"It's so good of you to come, Mr McGinn," the ward matron said as she led him down the long, echoing hallway. "Too often, these poor souls are just left with no one for company."

 _Bit of a poor choice of words,_ Iain thought as the matron slowed her pace, coming to a stop outside of a closed door. "Now, I want you to know that it's perfectly fine if you don't want to see him. You can't do anything to hurt him or disappoint him, all right?"

Iain looked down into her kindly, wrinkled face, noticing that several strands of her dirty blonde hair had escaped her matron's cap, spoiling her crisp tidiness. _She's right. He won't know I'm there and if he does know, he won't care. I don't have to do this. I can just …_ "I need to see him. To see that he's … you know," he said, finishing with a lame shrug.

She patted his arm and gave him what he surmised was her most sympathetic, understanding expression before turning to open the door, peeking inside for a moment before opening it fully and motioning Iain in.

Taking a deep breath, Iain walked into the room, blinking in surprise at the sunlight flooding into the room. After a moment, his eyes adjusted and he saw his father sitting in a chair, staring listlessly out of the windows. Momentarily frozen, Iain nearly jumped when the matron gave him a gentle nudge, propelling him forward.

As he approached him, Iain took in his father's appearance, noting that his usually disarrayed gray hair was clean and tied back in a neat ponytail. It gave him the appearance of that sort of teacher that knew what the kids these days were up to.

Kneeling down next to him, Iain took his father's hand in his, dismayed at how cool and slack it was. Gathering his nerve, he raised his eyes to look into his father's face, expecting to see the familiar amused aloofness he always seemed to cultivate. Instead there was … _Nothing. Just blankness._ Horrified, he fought down the urge to throw down the slack hand in his and run out of the sunlight-filled room.

The matron hovered behind him, hands clasped together and Iain found himself annoyed at the unwanted audience and he wished she'd go away, but he imagined that she was there primarily for his father's safety. _I suppose I'd better say something._ "Um, hello, Da. It's me, Iain. Erm … I've finished at Durmstrang," he said, feeling both ridiculous and sad as he talked to his father who he knew would never respond again.

"They can't talk back, but they like the sound of voices," the matron said encouragingly.

"Erm, all right." Uncomfortable on his knees, he let go of his father's hand and pulled another chair up next to him, taking his hand once more. "I finished Durmstrang with top marks. I was top of my year in Potions. Moritz said—" As he talked, Iain felt his father's fingers twitch against his and his heart thumped in his chest. He turned to the matron, the question on his lips dying at her expression.

"No, love. It's just a reflex, aye? Keep talking, though."

Mouth dry, Iain swallowed and nodded, turning back to look at his father's empty blue eyes that had once held so much emotion and pride for him. _Windows to the soul. What if there's no soul there?_ "Da, I know that you can't really understand what I'm saying, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway," he said, launching into a description of all that had transpired at school since he saw him last Christmas.

He realized the matron had left them alone at one point, leaving a glass of water for him on a nearby table. He talked until he was hoarse, his voice trailing down to a whisper, watching his father the whole time for the least little reaction. _Nothing,_ he thought. _He's just … existing._ Iain held his father's hand, absently stroking the back of it with his thumb as he gazed out of the darkening windows, thinking about his new situation.

 _I'll have to go see the solicitors tomorrow and start sorting things out. Looks like I'm the head of the household, now._ He looked around the room. It was small and plainly furnished with a bed, a couple of chairs and a table. _No en-suite, though. I guess not much need for that._

When he'd first arrived at St Mungo's, the matron had given him the basics. "They can feed themselves if food and drink are put in front of them and follow simple instructions, but anything more than that is beyond them, I'm afraid," she'd said. Iain had almost asked her exactly what she meant, but after a moment of thought, he realized that his father was now going to be in a nappy.

 _I'll have to see about the house. Where am I going to live now?_ The thought of living in the big house all by himself was not appealing. _When Mum was alive she kept it up, but ever since she died …_ _Da never kept up with the little things and they just kind of piled up._

Iain sighed and looked at his father once more, heart falling at the vacant expression in his eyes. Patting his father's knee, he stood up, legs tingling after sitting still so long. "Well, Da. I've got some things to see to, so I'm going to go." He turned, not really surprised to see the ward matron standing just inside the doorway.

"Did you have a nice visit?" she asked as they stepped out into the hallway.

 _I don't know that I'd really call it a visit,_ he thought, irritation rising up inside of him. "It was fine. It was … good to see him." They walked silently down the echoing hallway once more. The matron was about to open the door to the rest of the hospital when he put his hand on hers, stopping her.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him.

Iain licked his lips, thinking of how to frame the question that had been in his mind for the last few hours. "How … how long is he going to, erm, be like this?"

The matron took her hand off of the doorknob and nodded at him. "It's a good question. It can depend on a lot of things, aye? Age, initial health, care. The soul does a lot more for the body than a lot of folk realize. Without it, little things become much more difficult to recover from. A case of the sniffles might last weeks or develop into something more serious." She put her hand on his arm and squeezed. "Your father had the good fortune to be in excellent health. I imagine you'll have several years with him yet."

 _Great. Years and years of me and my zombie Da. Maybe I'll bring a large pillow on my next visit._ "Thank you. You've been very helpful."

She nodded and opened the door, surprising a young, red-haired witch on the other side of the door, holding what looked like a dinner tray. "Oh! I was just going to bring Mr McGinn his dinner," she said. "I didn't realize he was having visitors today." She looked at Iain, her brown eyes warm and friendly. "Would you like to stay and feed him?"

The thought of feeding his father like a baby stirred a deep revulsion inside of him and he barely managed not to shudder. "I have some things I need to take care of. Maybe another time," he said, giving the young witch a tight smile.

"All right then. I'll just run this over." She squeezed between the two of them and headed off down the hallway, red hair incongruously bright in the aseptic, institutional hallway.

XXX

"You were asleep for quite some time, my friend! I didn't think you were ever going to wake up!" Scott said, handing the man a steaming mug of coffee.

Dazedly, the man took it, looking around at his surroundings. "Where … where am I?" he asked, a tremor of fear in his voice.

"You don't remember? You're in my flat. My apartment, I should say." Scott was careful to keep his voice full of bonhomie to keep his guest calm. _I don't need him to spoil the product._

The man laughed ruefully and shook his head. "Man, I was so high when I met you, I don't think I even knew my own name." He stuck out his hand. "Aaron."

"Scott," Scott said, shaking Aaron's offered hand. "How are you feeling?"

Aaron took a long drink of coffee and closed his eyes, looking as if he were assessing his mental and physical state from the ground up. "I feel great, man." He opened his eyes and looked straight at him. "I haven't been this sober in eighteen years. You some kind of magician?"

"If only! Come on, finish your coffee. I've got eggs and toast, okay?" Aaron nodded, raising his mug to him before he took another long drink, looking like a man that hadn't tasted even bad coffee in a very long time. He left him there on the cot that had been his home for the last couple of weeks, kept in a magically-assisted sleep while the accumulated toxins from years of drug use were flushed out of his body.

In the kitchen, Scott put the finishing touches on the scrambled eggs, knowing from long experience that eggs were suited to a digestive tract that had been inactive for an extended period of time. The bathroom door opened and closed and he smiled to himself at the sound of Aaron groaning as he emptied his bladder.

"Hey, do you mind if I use your shower?" Aaron called from the spare bedroom.

"Why don't you come and eat something first? The shower will still be there."

Aaron shuffled in, looking somewhat sheepish in the tee shirt and loose lounge trousers that Scott had had him put on before sending him on his long sleep. "That smells great, man. Don't know the last time I had a good, home-cooked meal," he said, digging into the eggs enthusiastically.

"Go slow. You've been out for a while."

Aaron paused in chewing and looked at Scott as he poured him a fresh cup of coffee. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A few days." Scott piled eggs on his own plate and slathered butter on a fresh slice of toast. _Give or take a couple of weeks._

Looking mildly disconcerted, Aaron finally shrugged and continued eating, piling eggs on top of his toast and shoving the whole mess into his mouth. Wordlessly, Scott served up another healthy portion, Aaron nodding his thanks. Finally, Aaron sighed and pushed himself back from the breakfast bar, patting his stomach in satisfaction.

"All right? No cramping?"

"Nah, man, just a full belly." Aaron narrowed his eyes and looked at him. "What are you, some kind of doctor? Trying to help us poor unfortunates?"

"No, not a doctor. Just a regular guy, trying to help my fellow humans in whatever little way I can," Scott said in his most reassuring tones. Just then, the beastly little device his employer insisted he carry buzzed, heralding what was undoubtedly _the_ most urgent communication from Jacob. "Pardon me," he said, picking up the device.

 _So sorry to bother you, but I'm going to need your assistance today,_ the message said. _I'm expecting a shipment from WWW and I'll need you to take care of the magical customs paperwork._

Irritation swept through him but he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. _Not too much longer,_ he thought. _Everything is coming together and my business here will be concluded soon._ He quickly typed a message back, annoyed at himself with how easily he'd become proficient in the use of the damned thing. _No problem, I'll handle it. Enjoy your weekend._

He set the device face down on the granite bar, ignoring the followup message. "Well, it looks like I need to head into work today."

"It's Saturday, right?" Aaron said, looking a little unsure. "That sucks, man."

"It's not too bad; we'll just have to move our timetable up a little." He took his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Aaron, taking a moment to savor the look of surprise and fear in the other man's face.

"Woah. Hey, man. What's that? I'm just gonna go, okay?" Aaron held his hands up in front of him and hopped off of the barstool, edging toward the spare bedroom.

"Oh, no. I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," Scott said softly, tracking his erstwhile guest's movements with his wand. Excitement was building up inside of him, supplanting the lingering irritation with his boss. The two men stared at each other, both breathing hard, frozen in a tableau until Aaron turned and ran for the door, no longer caring about getting his things.

Scott grinned as he watched the man scrabble at the magically-locked door and start banging on it in frustration, shouting for someone, anyone to save him from the madman he was locked in with. _No one will hear you, no matter how loud you scream._ Standing in the middle of his well-appointed lounge, he took a deep breath and centered his mind as he prepared to cast what had become his favorite spell. _"Crucio!"_

Later, after a day that turned out to be more annoying and inconvenient than he'd anticipated, Scott returned to his flat, a bag of Indian takeaway in one hand. He sat down at his breakfast bar and began to eat while looking through the _Uncanny Examiner_ , completely unbothered by the dead man sprawled across his sofa.

 _Hm, looks like they've decided to publicize the rise in Dementors at the bridge._ He scanned the article, noting that walking out on the bridge was being discouraged for the time being, "until the Dementor population has had a chance to return to normal levels," he read out loud.

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me how many of the bloody things there are out there," he said, addressing the corpse. "I only need one." He scooped up the last of his dal makhani with a piece of naan and wiped his hands on a napkin. Hopping up from the barstool, he neatly Vanished his dinner trash and sighed, looking at the body again and sending the remains to the same place of not-being.

Chores done, he went into the room he'd set up as his workroom, settling into the comfortable chair behind the large desk. He switched on the lighted magnifying glass and looked at the different sticks of wood he had arrayed there, picking them up and looking for flaws or weaknesses. _Hawthorne, ash and cedar,_ he thought, picking up a stoppered flask full of a rich-looking, dark fluid. "Well, Aaron, let's see which one suits you best."


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you sure you're going to be all right with the both of them?" Ginny asked, smoothing down the back of James's hair where it stuck up just like Harry's. "We could take Allie with us. He mostly sleeps."

"You don't want to try and keep track of a baby in all that madness," Harry said, bouncing James on his hip. "We'll be fine. Go do your shopping and have fun, all right?"

"Let's get going. We need to get to Barney's before they're all out of the good cashmere!" Ben said, looking down at his watch.

"Okay. Message me if anything comes up, all right?" Ginny leaned down and nuzzled James, making him giggle before kissing him soundly.

"Of course. I wrangle kids all day; what could go wrong?"

"Famous last words," Ginny snorted, picking Allie up from his spot on the playmat. "Be good for Daddy, all right?" Allie merely blew bubbles and reached for her earrings, but Ginny seemed to accept that as agreement and kissed him several times on both cheeks before handing him to Harry who had set James down.

James made a beeline for Ben who picked him up and swung around in circles with him to make him laugh. "Okay, little man. Uncle Ben has to get going or else you're just going to have coal in your stocking!" Ben set him back down and he immediately headed for the cat, lying peacefully in a patch of sunlight on the floor.

"You should make a break for it, love," Harry said, leaning in to give Ginny a quick kiss. "I'll see you later. Have fun." A few moments later, Ginny and Ben were out the door and James was chasing after Stuart, none the wiser.

Blowing out a breath, Harry nodded his head. "Right. Let's get you two set for our own adventure, yeah?" It took longer than he thought it would, but eventually he had both boys warmly dressed and secured in the double push chair. He himself was dressed for cold-weather running and they headed out towards Fort Point.

On his way, he sent a text to Teddy. _Want to help me count Dementors? I could use your eyes._

 _What? Are you mad?_ came the instant response.

 _No, just curious. Heard from Archimedes last night that there's more than usual and I wanted to check it out for myself._

 _He say why there's so many?_

 _He doesn't know._

 _Where are you?_

 _Coming up on the Warming Hut. Going to Fort Point._

 _Yeah all right. I'll meet you there. Does Ginny know you're doing this?_

 _She does not. And she won't, will she?_ A moment later, an image of a smiley face with a halo appeared and Harry snorted, pocketing the phone. "Hang on boys," he said as he started to jog along the pathway. He thought briefly about contacting Scott, but decided against it. _I'll want everyone to be able to cast a Patronus if things get squiffy,_ he thought, glancing down at the boys.

Suffering only minimal embarrassment at being the very thing he dreaded, a runner with an enormous pushchair in front of him, he made good time to Fort Point, the cold air feeling glorious against his sweaty face. Ahead of him, he saw Teddy leaning against the old brick wall of the fort.

Jogging towards them, Teddy had a wide grin on his face. "You didn't say you had the boys. Maybe Ginny _should_ know about this?"

"Not if you want to have a place to stay when Duncan's _entertaining,_ yeah?"

Teddy grunted and leaned over to greet Allie and James who squealed at him in turn. "All right. What are we doing? You're not taking them on the bridge, are you?"

"No, I don't want them anywhere close to those things. I think we'll be able to get an idea from here, don't you?" Harry said, peering up at the underside of the bridge.

"Yeah, probably. And if not, I can check it out. It's daylight and they're likely to be sluggish."

"Or you can stay with the boys while I check out the bridge," Harry corrected as they walked toward the fort, ignoring Teddy's mumbled _whatever._

In the building, they entered the empty square in the middle, peering up at the underside of the bridge, looking for dark, tattered figures. Harry frowned, seeing four floating in a cluster right under the girders that arched gracefully over the old building. He pointed to them with his chin and Teddy nodded, gesturing to the old lighthouse tower they had seen Scott in.

"Yeah, all right. Be careful," Harry said, heading up to one of the higher floors that looked out to the bay. Once he had managed to manhandle the huge push chair up the stairs, a clearer view of the bridge greeted him and he sucked in a breath in dismay. _Oh my God, there've got to be dozens out there,_ he thought as he easily spotted several of the things floating aimlessly like specks of black ash. The wind carried a few away from the bridge, but they always seemed to be able to float back purposefully.

Mouth set in a grim line, Harry quickly counted, coming up with thirty including the group of four he'd seen earlier. _The most I've seen out there is maybe eight or nine … this is really weird._ Troubled, he made his way down to the square in the middle of the fort, making sure the boys were still bundled up and warm in the cold wind off the water. He took a quick peek at the quartz stone in James's pocket, glad to see that it wasn't glowing blue.

"How many did you count?" he asked Teddy when his godson rejoined him in the echoing space.

"I got thirty-five. You?"

"Close. Thirty. Must have been some way at the other end I couldn't see. Archimedes said they'd counted twenty just last week." Unwilling to stay in the area with so many of the nasty creatures floating around, Harry turned to head out of the fort, Teddy following close behind.

"What d'you reckon's got them all over here?" Teddy asked when they were well down the pathway back to the Warming Hut. "Has there been an uptick in jumpers?"

"I asked Archimedes the same thing and he says not."

"Well, if there haven't been more jumpers, there probably will be soon," Teddy said with a backwards look at the bridge. He gave a little shudder and turned back to look at Harry. "Are Ginny and Ben out shopping?"

"Yeah. They'll be out most of the day. What about you?"

Teddy held up his finger as he pulled out his mobile and quickly started tapping out messages on it, staring down at it intently. Finally satisfied, he put it back in his pocket and looked at Harry. "What?"

"Never mind. What did you ask Gin to get for you?"

Teddy shrugged and looked away. "I asked if she'd pick me up something for Kelly and I could pay her back." Harry raised an eyebrow and grunted. "Do you think you could maybe give it to her? For me? And let her know it was from me?"

Harry's heart twisted at the hopeful sound in his godson's voice and he nodded. "Yeah, I can do that for you," he said, casting another look over his shoulder at the bridge. He thought he could still see a few specs floating around and he shook his head. _Haven't seen that many since Azkaban. What's got them so riled up?_

XXX

"So you were off somewhere with someone for a long time last night," I said, giving my cafe mocha a stir. We were taking a short lunch break before plunging back into the last-minute Christmas madness and I was glad to be off of my feet. When Ben was on a shopping mission, he became a machine, leaving me to be pulled along in his wake. "I saw you chatting with Scott."

Ben didn't respond right away, taking the time to doctor his coffee to perfection before taking an experimental sip. "Well," he finally said, primly setting his cup down, "as it happens, I did spend some time with young Mr Andrews. But, all we did was chat."

From his expression, I could tell that he had more to tell me, but was determined to make me ask. Long accustomed to this game, I simply sipped more of my delicious mocha and nibbled on the chocolate and hazelnut biscotti and waited him out.

"What do you know about Aric Hindle?" he finally asked, giving me a sidelong look.

"Hmm, Aric Hindle? Now, I don't know everyone here and knowing Jacob, some of the guests could be from goodness knows where," I said, searching my memory, trying to put a face with the name. "I don't think I've heard of him. What did you find out?"

Ben took a cursory look for eavesdroppers in the crowded cafe and leaned in close. "Well, he said that he's a … Magineer?" I nodded and he went on. "Works at this placed called Magical Materials."

"Nice. They make those little ear things," I said, briefly reflecting on the odd confluence of magic and Muggle technology that had started to crop up.

"I think he said that. Anyway, we found ourselves in a secluded corner and … well …"

"You let nature take its course?" I asked, grinning at his coy expression.

"Twice!" he squealed, face fully turning red.

I gasped and was just about to ask what he really meant by that when my little mobile chimed. Glancing down, I saw a message from Teddy. "Hang on, Teddy," I said, reading it over quickly.

 _Ginny, Harry says you and Ben are out shopping. Can you do me a favor?_

 _Uh oh, sounds important,_ I messaged back, looking up at Ben. "Teddy wants a favor."

"What do you think he wants?"

"Maybe to pick up something for Andromeda," I said, already trying to think of what she might like to have from Teddy.

 _I want to give something to Kelly. Can you …?_

"Oh, bless," I said, smiling down at my phone.

"What? Is everything all right?" Ben asked, peering down at the screen I showed him. "Kelly? Is that the girl from …?"

"With the very angry father that holds one hell of a grudge? Yes. Poor thing. He's always asking Harry about her; she's in her last year at St Ambrose's." _What did you have in mind?_ I sent back, shifting my mental energies from Granny gift to girlfriend.

 _Um … maybe a jewelry … thing? You're a girl. What do you like?_ I could nearly sense his panic through the phone.

 _Jewelry will be lovely. What did you have in mind?_

Ben leaned over and read our conversation. "Oh, ask if she likes silver or gold," he suggested.

 _And do you know if she likes silver or gold?_

 _Argh, too many choices!_ _Um, I don't know? Gold, I guess? It'll have to be small. Her dad and all._

"Oh, it wouldn't do to have Dad notice a new piece of jewelry and ask where she got it from," I murmured. _A necklace, then. She can keep it under her shirt._

"And close to her heart," Ben simpered and I elbowed him.

 _You're brilliant. I'll pay you back, okay?_

 _You'd better or I'll send my leg-breaker after you._

 _Thank you so much, Ginny. You're the best._

 _I know. I'll send you a snap, all right?_

 _Yeah. Thanks again!_

"Tiffany," Ben said snapping his fingers. "Every girl, and some boys, love getting that little blue box."

"Well, having never bought jewelry for another young woman, I will give way to your instincts," I said, dunking the last half of my biscotti in my mocha.

"I've never bought jewelry for a girl either, but I do have great instincts," Ben said, giving me an outrageous grin and making me laugh. It was times like these that I wished he'd turned down the Children's Hospital of LA and stayed up here with me, but I knew that for the selfishness it was. _I'll just have to treasure these moments we have together._

I finished my biscotti and dusted my hands off. "Well, shall we get going? We have an unexpected stop."

Ben knocked back the rest of his coffee and stood up, bending over to pick up several of the carrier bags we'd managed to accumulate during our very busy morning. "Yes, ma'am. Onward!" He headed out of the packed cafe, the crowd seeming to part naturally for him, leaving me to gather up the rest of the bags and scramble along behind him.

As we headed down the street toward our target, my mind turned from finding something a young girl might like to wondering if I could find anything for Harry. He usually wasn't much for personal adornment, wearing only his watch and wedding ring, but maybe something would catch my eye. _And if I don't find something for him, maybe I'll find something for me from him!_

Several hours later, I was ready to call it quits, but Ben looked like he could go all night. While he was rummaging through a rack of jackets, I sat down in a conveniently-placed chair and pulled out my phone. _I'm completely exhausted!_ I messaged to Harry, trying not to sound like I was whinging.

 _Ha! Now you know how I feel sometimes. Coming home soon?_

 _I think so. Ben's looking at some jackets right now._

 _Hungry?_

 _Starved._

 _Come home, drop your stuff and we'll go out. Teddy's here and Ben's going home tomorrow. We'll have a farewell party._

 _Sounds fantastic. How are the boys? Any trouble?_ I asked, knowing that Harry would know what I meant by 'trouble'.

 _No, not a thing. All quiet._

Ben turned to me, holding a puffy snow jacket in front of him with a questioning look. "When would you wear that?" I asked. "You live in Southern California."

"It gets cold there. Sometimes." He put it on and looked at himself in the full-length mirror, turning all around. "Mammoth is close. I could wear it skiing."

"You could wear it in the lodge," I corrected. "Listen, Harry says we should go out for dinner. Sort of a farewell party since you're heading home tomorrow."

Ben paused for a moment, staring into the mirror and seemed to shake himself. "Yeah, all right. I'm going to get this. To me, from me, thank me very much!" He gave me a saucy wink and went off to find a till that wasn't mobbed.

 _I've convinced him. He's getting a snow jacket and then we'll be home._

 _A snow jacket? He lives in LA._

 _That's what I said! See you soon._ I put my phone back in my pocket and looked around, making sure no one was paying any attention to me at all. Drawing out my wand, I shrunk down all but one of the carrier bags, putting them all into the one I left normal-sized. A few moments later, Ben came back, ridiculous jacket stuffed into yet another carrier bag.

"Where did all of our stuff go?" he asked, eyes darting around.

I stood and stretched, swaying a bit at the rush of blood. "They're here. I shrunk them and put them all in this one," I said, picking up the single bag and putting on my own jacket.

"Oh, good idea!" Ben twitched his nose at me like that witch in that old telly program. I linked my arm through his as we left the crowded department store, heading toward a small alleyway that was likely to be empty before I Apparated us home.

One second after we appeared in our foyer, James came hurtling at me, crashing into my knees and nearly knocking me over. "Mum!" he crowed, reaching up for me.

I bent to pick him up, but Ben beat me to it. "Oh my goodness! Look at you! Did you miss your momma?" he said, bouncing James in his arms.

James laughed and patted Ben's cheek as he bounced. "Ben!" he said.

Ben looked at me, mouth open. "Did you hear that! He said my name! You said my name!"

"Ben!" James shouted again, dissolving into giggles. Harry came into the foyer and kissed me on the cheek, casting a questioning look at Ben and James, who were now dancing in circles and saying each other's names.

"James learned a new word," I said, kissing him back. "Where's Allie?"

"In baby Azkaban." Harry took the carrier bag out of my hand, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected weight.

I went into the lounge, kissing Teddy on top of his head as I passed him. "What did you get me?" he asked, pulling his attention away from the cooking show he had on the telly.

"You'll never get it out of me, copper!" I said as I bent over to pick up Allie, inhaling his baby smell, nuzzling his cheek as he burbled and cooed. Turning back to Teddy, I cocked my head toward the carrier bag that was now at the bottom of the stairs. "Your order is in there," I said, smiling as he leapt off the couch and started digging through the carrier bag.

"There's two?" he asked, restoring the aqua-blue bag to its normal size.

"The smaller one is yours. Say no more about the other one," I said, favoring him with an arch look. "Was the picture I sent all right?"

Teddy looked down at the blue box in his hands and nodded. "Yeah. I think she'll like it. I mean, I hope she does."

"She will," Harry said confidently, patting him on the shoulder.

"James and Ben still dancing? I need to take care of a few things before we can go, okay?"

"Yeah, take your time. Where do you want this?" Harry asked, indicating the bag.

"Leave it there for now. It's all jumbled together and we need to figure out whose is whose." I could hear Ben and James still in the foyer, Ben now singing The Wheels on the Bus. I headed upstairs, mentally cursing my friend. _I'm going to be humming that song all night._

XXX

Scott stepped out onto the bridge, breathing deep of the cold night air. It was dark, the last of the sunlight having disappeared over the western horizon, the lights of the City shining through the gathering fog. He stood looking at them, hands in the pockets of his jacket, fingering the wooden charm there.

Nodding companionably to the couple shuffling quickly past him, he set off back towards the lights of the City. "Nice night for a walk, isn't it?" he said, getting a confused look from the couple in return.

Chuckling to himself, he started whistling, projecting a general feeling of happiness and well-being. _And why shouldn't I be happy? After tonight, I'll be free and can finally leave here and go somewhere more suited to my liking. Somewhere with no Jacob Green constantly bothering me._

As he walked, he caught sight of a tattered, black shape floating above him. As he watched, gripping his wand in case defensive action was needed, he continued to whistle and behave as if he hadn't a care in the world. The black shape was joined by two more and he watched as they drifted closer, making the already cold night even colder.

Unbidden, memories came to Scott. He was at school, in the headmaster's office being informed that his father had been arrested by the Aurors for some crime. Memories of rumors flying and whispers following him around the school hallways and of pretty Irena not returning his greeting.

And then Harry Potter himself, coming to his school, his _place_ and interviewing him. Asking him questions as if _he_ were under investigation. _"What's your favorite subject? Mine was Defense,"_ he'd asked, and in retrospect, he saw how desperate Potter had been to establish some sort of rapport with him. To get him on his side. _And I fell for it, pretending like he was my friend._

Overhead, the Dementors sailed overhead, dipping perilously close to the cars whizzing by on the roadway of the bridge, their tattered robes flying in the wind of their passage. Memories fading, Scott continued to walk, pausing for a moment when he caught sight of a young man leaning against the railing, head down low.

His heart beat faster and he stopped whistling as he held himself motionless, unwilling to alert the young man to his presence just yet. He saw three Dementors hovering close to him and it looked like he was sobbing into his cupped hands. _A perfect opportunity,_ Scott thought, striding forward towards the young man, one hand firmly on the stick man-shaped figure in his pocket.

As he approached, the Dementors raised their hooded heads, looking around as if confused before moving away once he stood next to the sobbing man. "Evening," Scott said, laying his Scottish accent on thicker as he leaned one hip against the rail. "You look like you could use someone to talk to."

"Who are you?" the man said, turning to look at him, wiping away tears from bloodshot eyes.

"Iain," he said, holding out his hand.

Looking befuddled, the man shook it. "Alonzo. You some kind of counselor?"

"Och, no. I'm just out enjoying the night air. It's beautiful, aye?" He swept his arm toward the twinkling lights of the City, lightly obscured by the fog.

"Yeah," Alonzo sighed after several moments of silence. "It can be beautiful, but harsh."

"Aye, that's life, isn't it? Here," he jammed his hand into his pocket, coming up with the chocolate bar he'd stashed there. "I was saving this for a special occasion and here we are." He unwrapped it and broke off a piece, holding it out to Alonzo who eyed it skeptically before finally taking it and putting it in his mouth.

"Wow, that's some good chocolate," he said after a moment, giving him a wide smile.

Iain clapped him on the shoulder, smiling back at him. "I find a bit of chocolate at just the right time can make the world seem all right."

"Yeah." Alonzo looked back at the City and sighed. "I need to get home. She'll be worried about me."

"It was good meeting you, Alonzo."

"Yeah, you too … Iain. Maybe I'll see you again?"

"Maybe," he said, waving at Alonzo as he headed over to the Sausalito side where his car was probably parked at the scenic lookout.

Whistling once more, Iain strolled along the walkway, grinning as Dementors subtly changed course to avoid him. _I'd call that a result. Aaron, your blood proved to be excellent indeed._ He continued his walk, untroubled by the floating spectral shapes until he'd reached the other side of the bridge. He looked down at his watch, raising his eyebrows at the time.

"Well, it was fun, but I have a very important appointment to keep. Don't worry, we'll see each other again soon," he said, turning to address the Dementor floating about twenty feet away. _Very soon,_ he thought as the Apparated away.

XXX

 _"_ _You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only sev-en-teeeeen!"_ Ben sang, swinging around the laughing boy in his arms. He felt fantastic and had all day. He loved Ginny, he loved shopping and, "I definitely love you!" he said, kissing James on the cheek.

Dimly, he was aware of Ginny going upstairs with Allie, presumably to feed him before they all went out to dinner. Through the doorway, he could barely see Teddy on the sofa, looking down at his phone as the cooking show continued to play on the TV. He couldn't see Harry and guessed he'd gone into the office, working on some last-minute lesson plans before the holiday break.

The thought of joining Ginny in the nursery came to him and was quickly pushed aside by another thought, one that he'd been _told_. Ben shuddered, a seductive giddiness sliding down his spine all the way down to his toes. "Hey, let's go on a little walk, okay?" he whispered in James's ear.

Quietly, so, so quietly, he opened the door, using his foot to shoo the cat away. Stepping out, he again thought of going back inside and going upstairs to chat with Ginny and again, the thought slid away, replaced by that strange sliding, swooping sensation. Closing the door, he walked quickly down the brick pathway that led to the wrought-iron gate, breath coming faster. Glancing both ways, he practically skipped across the street, full of purpose until he achieved his goal.

"James," he said, taking the boy's hand and making him wave. "This is Scott."

XXX

"There, now you're fit for polite company," I said, smoothing down the front of Allie's dark hair. His hair seemed to behave a little bit better than James's, but time would tell if Harry's hair would continue to dominate and vex our children. "You've eaten, but Mummy is hungry. Let's see if everyone else is ready to go, all right?"

I picked up Allie and headed downstairs, stepping around Stuart who seemed determined to trip me up. "Teddy, turn off the telly and get your shoes and jacket on," I said. "And put some food down for Stuart, he's acting like he's starving."

I stuck my head in the office, unsurprised to see Harry hunched over his computer, a pencil in his teeth. "Ready to go, love?"

"Hm? Yeah, hold on. Just need to make a note." He scribbled something with the pencil on a piece of paper and stood, stretching.

"Here, hold on to Allie, I want to make sure Ben has James ready to go," I said, kissing Harry on the cheek. Running up the stairs, I headed toward James's room, Stuart nipping at my heels. "Ben? Do you have James … Ben?" James's room was dark and I turned to look down the hall, but there was no strip of light underneath the guest room door.

"Ben?" I called, heading down the stairs, my heart doing a funny little stutter when I didn't hear a response. "Harry? Have you seen Ben and James?"

Harry stood holding Allie, a frown on his face. "He wasn't up with you?"

"No. Teddy, did Ben come in here with James?" My eyes darted to the pack-and-play Harry so charmingly called Baby Azkaban. It was empty except for some stuffed animals.

Teddy paused in the middle of putting on his jacket. "I thought he'd gone up with you when you took Allie up." He shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention. Chatting with Duncan."

"The garden. Check the garden," I said, but Harry was already in motion, long legs covering the distance to the French doors in what seemed like a split second. He threw open the doors and lit up the whole back garden with a _Lumos Maxima,_ eschewing the light switch right next to the door.

"Ben! James!" he shouted, sending his wand light over the patio furniture, barbecue, flower beds and small plastic slide that James loved.

"James! Ben, it's time to go!" I shouted, throat constricting as icy fear swept through me.

"Are they out there?" Teddy asked, standing behind me and looking over my head.

"No. I don't know where they are," I said, my voice sounding small and frightened to my own ears.


	14. Chapter 14

Harry stared out into the back garden, aiming the light of his wand as he searched for any hint of Ben and James, harboring the fading hope that Ben was simply playing a poorly thought-out prank and would pop out from behind a bush at any second, James safe in his arms.

He barely heard Teddy ask a question and Ginny answer him through the roaring in his ears, his own heartbeats sounding like a giant crashing around in his head. Allie started to squirm and fuss against him and he realized that he was holding the baby tighter than he ought to. Extinguishing the powerful wand light, he spun around, thrusting Allie at Teddy.

Shaking Ginny's hand off his arm, he bounded up the stairs, Stuart a white streak in front of him. In moments Harry was in James's room, searching for something he could use to find him. _I need a bit of hair. Where's his hairbrush? We do brush his hair, right?_ His thoughts careened around wildly as he opened drawers and slammed them shut, sweeping aside clean nappies and rash creams.

"Gin!" he shouted, "I need some hair! Hairbrush! Where is it?" He turned around, nearly crashing into Ginny, holding out the smallest brush he'd ever seen. Snatching it out of her hand, he examined the bristles, looking at his wife over his glasses. "You're sure this is only James's?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. Her face was white, making her freckles stand out. "Allie's doesn't really need brushing yet. Harry where—"

Harry ignored her question, focusing on teasing out a few strands of hair from the nylon bristles, holding them tight as he rushed back downstairs and into the dark back garden. Willing his heart to slow, he put the strands of hair in the flat of his palm, hardly daring to breathe lest he blow them away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ginny and Teddy anxiously watching him, Ginny clutching Allie to her chest. He tried to give them a reassuring smile, but his face felt frozen in place and he focused on his son's hair in the palm of his hand, concentrating on the location spell. He flicked his wand with the utmost precision and a brilliant red light sprang from the palm of his hand, soaring off into the distance.

"Cool," Teddy breathed as he and Ginny stepped forward into the dark back garden, peering at the red light and trying to see where it ended.

Ginny was the first of them to figure it out and she gasped. "The bridge?" she said, her breath making a white plume in the cold air. Harry nodded grimly, focusing on the spot where James's light vanished. "Harry, how … how did he get there so fast? We've only been home for a little while and I heard him singing that damn Wheels on the Bus!"

Harry heard the panic rising in her voice and he closed his fist as the last of the hair was consumed by the spell, cutting out the red light that led to his son. He gathered himself to Apparate when Ginny laid her hand on his arm. "What are you doing?"

Anxious to be away, Harry blew out a breath. "I'm going to get him and bring him back."

"Not without me, you're not. Teddy—"

"Wait a minute! I can help!" Teddy protested as he automatically took Allie from Ginny.

"No! You stay—"

"Ginny! I can duel—"

"You've never been in a real fight!"

Harry stood watching Ginny and Teddy arguing, frustration rising, until he finally broke. "Stop!" he roared, startling the both of them into silence. "You are both staying here."

"Harry—" Ginny started, but he cut her off.

"Gin. Ben may have just … I don't know, but I don't like this. Something doesn't feel right and I need you to stay here with Allie," Harry said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Ginny opened her mouth and then closed it. "Fine," she said, crossing her arms and taking a step back.

Harry looked at Teddy, gratified to see him nod. "All right. I'll be back soon." He prepared to Apparate and was stayed by Ginny's hand on his arm once more. "What?" he asked, unable to mask his irritation.

"Don't hurt him, okay? He might be … not himself, all right?" Ginny looked up at him and he knew that they were both thinking that the only way Ben would have walked out with James was if he were Imperiused.

"I know, love," Harry said, giving her a swift kiss and Apparating away before she could stop him a third time.

XXX

I stood still for a moment, staring at the space Harry had so recently occupied before silently Apparating out of our garden, following the trail the Tracking Spell had shown us. "Right," I said, nodding once as I planned my course of action.

Closing the French doors, I conjured a hair tie, putting my hair up in a bun and running up the stairs. I went into our bathroom and picked up Harry's hairbrush, grabbing several black hairs and holding them securely in between my thumb and forefinger.

Teddy stood in the doorway, watching me over Allie's head. "Ginny, Harry said—"

"I know what Harry said. Listen, you are staying here with Allie." I ran back down the stairs and headed into the office, pointing to the bottom drawer of Harry's desk. "If something happens … if we don't come back, there's a letter in there. Contact Ron. He'll know what to do."

Open-mouthed, Teddy stared at me as I pulled on a dark-colored hoodie and zipped it up. "What? If you don't come back? What's going on?" he asked, no longer looking quite like the self-assured Auror cadet.

I wanted to be gone, to help Harry get our son back and help Ben if he'd been taken over by another witch or wizard, but I forced myself to slow down. "Teddy, love, I don't know. Ben has taken James and I don't know why or where," I said, drawing him close and inhaling Allie's dizzying baby scent as I sought to calm my jangling nerves. "We'll be back before you know it, all right?"

He took a deep breath and nodded, sniffling a little. "Yeah, okay. I'll stay here with Allie, then, I guess."

"Thank you, love," I said, going up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. I took Allie out of his arms and held his warm body close to mine as if I was trying to imprint on my senses for all time the feeling of holding him.

Finally, I let go, handing Allie back to Teddy, kissing the top of his head once more. I grabbed his hands, holding tight. "Remember. If anything happens, get the letter and go to Ron, all right?" White-faced, he nodded, not arguing for once.

I stepped away, taking a deep breath and centering myself before stepping into our dark back garden, looking towards the lights of the Golden Gate Bridge. I laid a single strand of Harry's hair across my palm and concentrated, casting the tracking spell as he'd taught me. A brilliant, glittering purple light sprang from my palm, arcing off into the distance towards the Bridge. Gathering my will, I focused on the three D's and went after my husband and son.

XXX

Silent as a ghost, Harry materialized near a light post marked 117 on the Golden Gate Bridge. Eyes wide, he crouched low and cast a Shield Charm in a dome shape above him as he searched the area for Ben and his son. _Deserted,_ he thought as his eyes passed over the empty walkway.

Reasonably certain no one would be attacking him, Harry stood up and moved to the railing, wishing he'd thought to bring another one of James's hairs for another tracking spell. Forcing himself to stay calm and think critically, Harry jogged further up the bridge towards the Marin side, searching for a flash of blond hair in the lights of the Bridge. A chill that had nothing to do with his lack of a jacket swept through him as a Dementor sailed high overhead, ragged black robes fluttering as it passed.

By the time he'd reached the middle of the bridge, several more Dementors had flown past him, all heading towards the City. Harry slowed and stopped, looking back with a frown. He leaned farther over the railing than was strictly safe, looking at the twinkling lights of San Francisco. _Where are they going? What …_ He squinted, finally perceiving the blot of darkness hovering above Fort Point.

"Oh my God," he said out loud, his blood running cold when he realized that blackness was made up of more Dementors than he'd seen in a very long time. "James," he breathed as he Apparated off of the Bridge.

XXX

I came back to myself on the Golden Gate Bridge, crouching down and quickly casting a Shield Charm like Harry had taught me as my eyesight adjusted to the low lights of the bridge. I didn't see Harry, Ben or James and I closed my eyes to better concentrate on sound, hearing only the passing of cars on the bridge deck.

 _Nothing._ I stood up, ducking back down as a Dementor sailed overhead, gooseflesh rising at the creepy chill of its passing. I watched as it moved, heading toward San Francisco and dipping down below the bridge. Frowning, I took another one of Harry's hairs and put it in my palm, holding it down with one finger so the wind from the bay didn't blow it away. Casting the Tracking Spell again, I gasped as the shimmering purple trail followed the path of that Dementor.

Heart hammering in my chest, I focused once more and Disapparated, hoping that I wouldn't end up on top of that Dementor. Upon my reappearance, I became aware of two things: It was much colder than it ought to be and I seemed to be in Fort Point, having materialized in an archway. I ducked behind it and carefully looked out into the plaza, suddenly very aware of the pervasive chill as I stared at the most Dementors I'd ever seen in my entire life. They seemed to fill the night sky, blotting out all of the stars and sucking every last hint of life and goodness out of the world as they swirled above the old brick fort like some sort of malevolent tornado. Fighting against a rising tide of nausea, I looked down to see what the Dementors were circling so assiduously, my blood freezing in my veins at the sight of my son in the middle of the maelstrom, held securely in the arms of Scott Andrews.

Next to him stood Ben, staring blankly out into the distance and my heart lurched, stuttering in my chest. I hadn't wanted to believe it, that Ben had taken my child out of my own house and brought him to Scott, but the evidence was right there in front of me. " _Imperius_ , but when?" I whispered, eyes glued to the three of them. As soon as I said it, I knew. _The party! They were chatting and that's when he did it. He must have set some sort of trigger, something like as soon as he was alone with James…_ I wracked my brain, going over our day, confirming that when we'd gotten home after shopping had been the first time Ben had had James all to himself.

Holding back the urge to Apparate and snatch my child out of Scott's arms, I examined James as well as I could from my position, relieved to see that he looked to be whole and unharmed.

"How is he keeping the Dementors away?" I whispered to myself, eyes searching for any sign of a Patronus and seeing none. The Dementors behaved as if there were some sort of invisible barrier keeping them at bay. _Where's Harry? Should I Summon him?_ Almost as soon as I had the thought, he appeared, stepping into the main plaza of the fort, wand drawn and pointing straight at Scott.

XXX

"Oh, Harry's here!" Ben said, clapping excitedly, completely unaware of the Dementors churning overhead.

Even though he'd expected it, a burst of rage went through Harry at the sight of Ben standing next to Scott. _Imperius. It's not his fault,_ he thought to himself as he quickly cast a Shield Charm and assessed the situation, breath frosting in the cold air. In front of him, holding James, stood Scott Andrews, a wide smile of satisfaction on his face. He had his wand out, holding it casually, but Harry knew from experience how fast he was with it. Next to him was Ben, looking alternately delighted and befuddled as the Imperius Curse held him in Scott's thrall.

The sound of his mother's death in his mind caused Harry to look up, eyes widening in horror at the sheer number of Dementors circling overhead. _Too many to count! There's got to be more now than there were earlier today. That's impossible! Isn't it?_ Pulling his eyes away from the Dementors, he met Scott's eyes, shocked at the sheer malevolence in them.

"Harry. So glad you could join us!" Scott said gleefully.

"Give me back my son, Scott," Harry said, keeping his voice even and calm through sheer force of will.

"Oh, no. I'm afraid I won't be doing that," Scott said with a frown. "At least not yet." He raised an eyebrow, a catlike grin stealing across his face. "And I think it's time we dispense with this _Scott_ business."

Harry's mind raced as he kept the surprise off his face and his wand steady. _Scott business?_ He studied the man in front of him as closely as the low light would allow, mentally flipping through the database of faces in his memory, searching for some hint that he'd met him before that Halloween party at Jacob's.

"You look a bit lost, Harry. Let me give you a clue. I hear you're fond of Muggle cinema, so here's one I know you'll get." He composed his face, changing from the smug, slightly amused expression to a sterner one. "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," he said, finishing the quote with a mad giggle.

Ice water filled Harry's veins as he remembered a long-ago interview in a chilly stone room. "Iain," he breathed, finally able to see the man the boy had grown into.

Ben clapped wildly, beaming at him as if he'd solved a very difficult puzzle. "Yes! I knew you'd get it!" he cheered and Harry thought he could detect a tinge of fear in his wide blue eyes. Catching Ben's enthusiasm, James clapped and stretched his hands out towards him. "Daddy!" he screeched, the sound echoing off the brick walls.

"It's about time," Iain said. "I was starting to think you'd never figure it out. I guess your Auror skills have gone a bit rusty now that you spend your days teaching children how to cast Shield Charms and dispel Boggarts."

"I didn't kill your father, Iain. He died in his sleep a few months ago," Harry said. James's voice calling out to him set his teeth on edge and he strove to remain calm and wait for his chance, resisting his mother's pleading in his mind as the maelstrom of Dementors continued to move above them.

"Oh, you may not have stopped his breathing or his heart, but you ended his life all the same, didn't you?" Iain cocked his head to the side, shifting James in his arms. "Tell me, Harry—was it exciting to watch a man's living soul get sucked out of his body?"

Hyperion McGinn's expressionless eyes rose in Harry's mind and he viciously banished the vision, forcing his attention back to the present. "Your father brought that on himself, Iain. He killed nearly thirty people over the years. Experimented on them. Used their blood and organs, tortured some. I know you were just a boy—"

"My father was conducting valuable research!" Iain shot back, interrupting Harry. "Maybe if the Ministry had made the same effort, my mother would still be alive!"

In Iain's voice, Harry heard the anguish of a boy missing his mother and it gave him a tiny bit of hope. _He's not gone yet. Maybe I can still reason with him._ "Iain, would your mother have wanted to be saved if it meant harming others?" Harry said. _There. Perfectly reasonable._ James started to fuss and rubbed his eyes, reaching for Harry with a high-pitched whine. His heart thundering in his chest, Harry forced himself to stand still, eyes fixed on his opponent.

"My mother trusted my father to take care of us. She supported everything he did."

"Did she? Did she watch your father as he used magic to pull out Arnold Hew's guts as he lay there, paralyzed?" _All these years later and I still remember every detail,_ Harry thought, recalling the testimony of the wizard from WandTech. "What about a baby, a weeks-old fetus removed from its mother and preserved in a jar? Would your mother have approved of that?" In the low light, Harry saw Iain's face darken and his heart jumped, remembering their previous dueling session and how Iain's skill had deteriorated as he lost his composure.

"My father was doing great things. He made fantastic discoveries and advanced our knowledge more than you'll ever know." Iain took on a sly expression and he looked up at the Dementors circling overhead. "Haven't you wondered how I'm keeping those things away from your precious son and pet Muggle?"

Harry glanced up, eyes drawn to the Dementors against his will. In his mind, his father died and his mother shrieked in helpless grief. _No Patronus … he can't cast one._ Iain smirked and shifted James to his other arm, digging in his jacket pocket before he pulled out a familiar-looking bundle of sticks in the rough shape of a man.

"You're not the only one who's delved into the secrets of blood," Iain said, holding the rough stick figure out for James to see.

Harry's stomach dropped as James reached out for the vile thing, encouraged by Iain dandling it in front of him. "No!" he shouted, taking a step forward.

"Ah ah! No closer," Iain admonished, taking a corresponding step back to keep the distance between them even. His wand was pointed at Ben. "I'm sure Ginny wouldn't want anything to happen to her favorite pet."

Seething, Harry stood where he was, desperately wishing Ben could throw off the Imperius Curse and get away. _I could make a Portkey and throw it at him, but Iain would probably blast it out of the air before it could touch him. Or he'd just blast Ben._ "What have you done with that?" he asked, hoping to get Iain talking again. _Distract him, then wait for your chance._

Iain beheld the stick figure, looking like a proud father. "Blood is so flexible, isn't it? The blood of the living can be useful for keeping your home safe." He nodded at Harry, acknowledging his skill with the Blood Seal on the threshold of his home. "The blood of the dead, of a departed soul, can also be extremely useful, if harvested under the right circumstances."

Harry's breath froze in his chest. _Samson and Delilah_ , he thought, remembering the pair Abraham had said hadn't been seen in a while. _No one notices when people on the street disappear._ Horrified, he stared at the crude figure, wondering whose blood had gone into its making. _A departed soul, it's acting like a mask … a void, almost._ "Iain, please. My son has done nothing to you."

"No, he hasn't," Iain said, looking at James as he put the stick figure back in his pocket. "But, you know what they say about the sins of the father." Looking up at Harry, Iain gave him an ugly smile. "He is beautiful. Well done to you and Ginny. I imagine he'll grow up to be big and strong. Too bad he won't have a soul."

XXX

I crouched down by the brick archway, only a little comforted by the presence of the sturdy structure, staring at the tableau in front of me. The cold, still air carried their voices to me perfectly. I nearly bolted out to the plaza when Harry appeared, but I forced myself to stay still. _Too risky_. _The last thing Harry needs is for me to go charging in. Wait for your chance, Weasley._

I ached to get my son back in my arms, but I hunkered down, picking up the thread of their conversation again. _Blood? Is that how …_ Looking up, the blackness of the Dementors looked like a hole in the nighttime sky and I shivered. Once again, I was back at Hogwarts, helpless as the Carrows tortured my friends and forced me to watch. Neville's face, contorted in pain, rose in my memory and I closed my eyes, forcing myself to take deep breaths until the nausea passed.

A chill raced through me as Iain revealed his terrible little fetish and the secret behind it. My heart jumped when James reached for it and Harry took a step forward. _No, baby, don't touch it!_ I thought with all my might, wishing that I were telepathic instead of whatever Coyote thought I was.

Forcing myself to remain still, I focused with all of my being on Iain and James. _Sorry, Ben, I don't think Iain intends to harm you,_ I thought, my heart breaking for my helpless friend. _A pox on whoever invented that Imperius Curse_. A simple _Finite Incantatum_ from another witch or wizard wouldn't do to get rid of it; the caster had to cancel it themselves. _Or die._

My own lip curled at Iain's awful smile at my husband, but his next words squeezed all of the air out of my lungs. "Too bad he won't have a soul," Iain said, and I ran forward into the plaza.

XXX

Harry had only a split second to register Ginny darting from the darkened archway before Iain shot a Full-Body Bind at her, freezing her in place. Roaring in anger, Harry sent a Stunning spell at Iain, not really surprised when it glanced off a Shield Charm, hitting poor Ben instead and sending him to the ground in a boneless heap.

"Oh, two for the price of one," Iain gloated, secure behind his shield. "Hm, it occurs to me that I _could_ truly get two for the price of one, here. I don't suppose a soul is strictly necessary when one is acting as an incubator if you decide to get a replacement child on her."

"Monster," Harry hissed, blood boiling. "Release her. Give James to her and let them go." He paused for a moment, throat working as he swallowed. "Take me."

Iain raised an eyebrow. "You, volunteer? I wish I could say it was unexpected, but no. No, Harry, I'm afraid that won't do. If I have your soul taken, where's the revenge? I don't get the satisfaction of you having to see your loved one's soulless eyes every day. To see the boy grow into the man, age and die, never knowing a single bit of life's joy." Eyes narrowing, Iain's face darkened. "I want you to have to live with the same decision I had to make every day until my father finally died—is today the day I just kill him and be done with it?"

"Mumumumumum," James chanted, becoming more agitated when Ginny didn't move or respond. "Mum!"

"Hush, child." Iain bounced James in his arms in an effort to calm him. "Well, I think we're almost done here, yes?"

"Iain, don't, please. I'm sorry about your father. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen and I never participated in another one, I swear," Harry said, hating the pleading tone in his voice. "I'll do it. Just leave James and Ginny alone. Please."

"Harry Potter, begging me to spare his wife and child." Iain cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips, looking as if he were giving Harry's offer actual consideration before shaking his head. "No. I like my idea much better. Up you go," he said, and James began to float slowly up toward the tumult of Dementors.

XXX

"Take me," Harry said, proving to me that even though I was frozen in place, my heart was very active, nearly beating out of my chest. _No! No no no! Not Harry or James! Take me!_ My mind reeled as Iain revealed his horrible plan for revenge, forcing us to either raise our soulless vegetable of a son or kill his body. Eyes stinging, I barely felt the hot tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes, wishing that I could break out of this Full-Body Bind through sheer force of will.

James calling for me and being utterly unable to respond was absolutely soul-crushing and I heard a strange high-pitching wailing sound, abruptly realizing it was coming from me. _The only goddamned thing I can do is whine like a dog!_ I shifted my eyes to Harry, but he was focused on Iain and James. _Coyote, now would be a perfect time for you to just show up!_

"Up you go," Iain said, sending my beautiful son floating up, up, up toward the Dementors. A couple had already taken notice and were starting to dip down, hooded heads swinging from side to side as my son's bright soul came into their awareness.

Helpless rage seethed within me as Harry started firing spells at Iain, only to have them carom off his shield and shoot off, just like the Stunning Spell that had felled Ben. Unaware of the danger he was in, James laughed and giggled as he floated higher and higher. I could tell the exact moment that the Dementors started to affect him when his laughter changed into wails of fear.

"Mum! Daddy!" he yelled, panic in his child's voice.

"James!" Harry shouted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him make the motion for _Accio. But that doesn't work on living things!_ He ran towards Iain, their shields crashing together and sending out sparks, both men keeping their feet. _Useless! Harry will have to drop his shield to get closer to James and then Iain can do what he wants to him! Stalemate!_

Transfixed, I almost didn't notice when Harry directed his actions at me, dispelling the Full-Body Bind and freeing me. Our eyes met and I swear I could read Harry's thoughts. _Get James! Get away!_

Harry turned back to Iain, trying to grind through his shield by sheer force. Iain paid him no mind, intent on sending my son to his doom. Sucking in a deep breath, I ran forward, mind racing with possibilities. _Conjure a trampoline, jump twenty feet up in the air, grab James, Apparate. Simple, right?_

As I ran, I sent my Patronus whizzing toward the two Dementors that were dangerously close to James, the silver hummingbird harrying them away from him. I'd reached what I'd chosen as my take-off position and was in the process of conjuring my trampoline when several things happened seemingly at once. "How did you—" Iain shouted, noticing that I was moving once more.

"Ginny! Get James!" Harry cried, the fear in his voice scaring me more than I thought possible.

"Mummy!" James screeched, reaching for me.

"James! Come to Mummy, baby!" I spread my arms wide as I readied myself for the jump of my life when James did just that; winking out of existence with a pop as he hovered twenty feet above our heads and into my arms. Stunned, I stared at him, the feeling of his warm body against mine completely unexpected.

"Go!" Harry roared, piercing through my confusion at how my son had managed to Apparate himself into my arms. I looked at him, seeing the fury and fear in his eyes and tucked our son closer to my body, Apparating away from that awful place. Just before I did, I heard the distant yipping of a coyote.

XXX

The instant Ginny disappeared with James, Iain howled in fury, the sound of the rage and madness in it sending a chill through Harry and making his hair stand on end. Eyes wild, Iain focused on him and hurtled forward, their shields crashing together so hard that they shorted out, the force knocking them both to the ground.

Narrowly escaping hitting the back of his head on the bricks of the plaza, Harry rolled, coming up against the Stunned Ben. Sparing a glance for the Muggle, he quickly recast his shield just as a jet of red came blasting toward him, making a small crater in the bricks by his elbow.

Snarling, Harry stood, spinning around until he saw Iain across the plaza, wand held ready. "Iain!" he shouted, "they're gone! You're not going to give my son to a Dementor!"

"Does your offer to give up yourself still stand?" Iain called back, voice full of scorn. "I imagine now that they're safe behind their Blood Seal, you're not so eager for your last Kiss."

"No one is getting Kissed by one of those creatures tonight," Harry called, sparing a glance for the Dementors still circling above the plaza. Ginny's Patronus had managed to get rid of a few, but there were still far too many for his liking and he sent his own stag galloping towards them, scattering most of the foul things into the night.

Iain looked up at the diminished amount of Dementors and shrugged. "They'll be back. We're too much to resist, Harry!" He pointed his wand at the unconscious Ben. "Maybe I'll offer them a bit of an appetizer?"

"You will not! Iain, this is madness! I'm sorry about your father, but he hurt people and needed to be punished—"

"In the most barbaric way possible! I can't believe that you, Harry Potter, supposed savior of us all, _let that happen!_ "

"It wasn't my decision! I had nothing to do with his punishment!"

"You could have asked for mercy! They would have listened to the Boy Who Lived!" Iain screamed, his face flushing an ugly shade of red.

 _That's all I ever am to them! The Boy Who Lived! The Savior!_ Familiar anger bubbled up in Harry, nearly driving away the cold night air. "What about the people your father lured to their deaths with those stickmen? What about the man whose entrails he dragged out of his living body? Didn't they deserve mercy?"

Iain spread his hands wide. "They were just Muggles, Harry! Plenty more where those came from! Besides, they were making noble sacrifices. My father did more to advance magic than anyone since Nicolas Flamel with his Philosopher's Stone. In fact, I'd wager that there was more involved in the creation of that stone than the old codger ever let on!"

Harry became aware of a creeping, damp chill rising up his back and spun, sending his Patronus at the Dementor that had been coming up behind him. "They're back!" Iain said with a high-pitched giggle, clearly feeling quite safe behind his disgusting blood-driven charm.

Harry sent a Disarming Charm at Iain, not surprised to see it splash off of his shield. _There's one spell a Shield Charm won't help with,_ he thought, immediately rejecting the idea. He'd seen first-hand what casting Avada Kedavra did to one's soul and sometimes he felt he skated a bit too close to the edge of the Dark for his own good.

 _Maybe I can appeal to his vanity._ "Why don't you drop that shield and we'll have a rematch? Right here. If you beat me, then I'll take the Kiss," he said, dispelling his shield as Dementors continued to hover above them. _That should save me from the Killing Curse. He'd much rather feed my soul to a Dementor and make Gin struggle with the decision of what to do with the rest of me._

Iain pursed his lips in thought, tapping his wand against his cheek before nodding once. "Very well. I accept your challenge, Potter," he said, giving a mocking version of the traditional bow.

 _All right. Step one._ Harry took a deep breath and returned the bow, careful to keep his eyes on Iain. _Step two … I'll figure it out when I get there._ Iain took up a traditional dueling pose. "I suppose it wouldn't really do to kill you outright, would it?" Iain said, shooting Harry a nasty grin. "I wouldn't want to take _that_ decision away from Ginny."

An icy calm swept through Harry as he faced his opponent, shutting out everything else around them. There was time for one final thought, _Ginny, I love you,_ and the battle was joined, Iain sending a jet of red straight at him. Harry turned to the side to present a smaller target, sending his own spell, a hopeful _Expelliarmus_ hurtling toward him. The two spells met and crashed together, shooting up into the sky and scattering the Dementors.

In seconds, the dim plaza was lit up with a rainbow of colors as they sent spell after spell at each other. The air was heavy and full of crackling sounds, reminding Harry of an impending thunderstorm. He managed to knock Iain backwards with a Hurling Jinx, but was immediately tripped, landing hard on his left elbow with a sickening crunch. _Fuck that hurts! No time to fix it!_ Holding his arm close to his chest, he cast a simple pain block as Iain got back on his feet.

Iain blocked another Disarming Charm and sent a spell not at Harry, but at Ben, sending his unconscious body flying up into the air and back down to the ground where he lay, splayed out like a discarded doll. "No!" Harry shouted, cursing himself for not having put a Shield on Ben.

"Oops, my wand slipped!" Iain frowned at Harry, then broke out into a grin. "Why, there seems to be something wrong with your arm. Have we had a bit of an accident?"

Snarling, Harry launched himself at Iain, sending a barrage of spells at him, trying to batter down his defenses and take him out. _He's fast, but he can't keep this up forever!_ Fully occupied with blocking Harry's onslaught, Iain backed away from him, a flicker of real fear showing in his eyes.

"Are you ready for mercy yet, Iain? Ask me for it!" Fury coursed through Harry as they fought. "Shall I grant you mercy for infiltrating my friend's lives? For stealing my son and trying to destroy his soul? Mercy for the Muggles you've disappeared so you can make that vile thing that protects you? That you _need_ because you can't cast your own Patronus?"

"I'll never need mercy from you, Potter!" Iain growled and Harry was shoved violently away from him by an expanding Shield Charm. Put off balance by his injured arm, Harry narrowly avoided falling flat on his arse and cast his own. Breathing hard, they stared at each other.

"Well, it seems we are equally matched," Iain said in an impressive display of calmness. _Or madness._ "I'm afraid we'll have to resolve our differences some other time."

Harry sent another blast of spells as he watched Iain prepare to Disapparate. "I'll find you! You will never be able to hide from me!" he roared, the unblockable ultimate unforgivable springing to mind.

"Oh, I'll—what?" Iain said as a net came shooting out of the darkness, settling neatly on top of the invisible Shield Charm.

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere." Archimedes stepped out of a darkened archway, flanked by three other black-clad Aurors. Relief coursed through Harry at the sight of them and he stifled the urge to break out in crazy laughter. One broke away and went to tend to Ben, crouching down next to him.

"What is this?" Iain raged as he spun on the spot, unsuccessfully trying to Disapparate. The net crackled with energy each time he tried.

"One of our more recent inventions. Anti-Apparation net." He turned to Harry, taking in his injured arm. "All right?"

"Yeah. How did you get here?"

"Ginny sent a message. We'd already gotten word of strange Dementor activity out here." Iain continued to rage impotently as the net prevented his desired getaway. "He's a live one. Jacob's assistant?"

"Yeah. And also the son of that bloke I told you about that got the Kiss."

"Well, well," Archimedes said, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips as he looked up towards the gathered Dementors.

Ben groaned and sat up, holding his head. "Ugh, what happened? I feel like I've been hit by a truck!" He looked around, panic coming over his face. "Where's James? James is supposed to be here! I need to get James and bring him—"

"Ben, you're under a spell," Harry said, striving to keep his voice calm and friendly. "Iain, release the Imperius Curse."

Snarling, Iain dispelled his shield and waved his wand at Ben, causing him to give a high-pitched shriek and clutch at his head. He turned to Harry, a stricken look in his eyes as he realized what he'd done. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm so sorry!" he said, over and over until his words broke into sobs.

"It's not your fault," Harry said, feeling utterly helpless. He looked to Archimedes who nodded to the Auror still crouched down by the weeping Ben.

The Auror pulled a vial out of a pocket and popped the top. "Here, drink this," she said. "Calming Draught." Ben quickly drank it down, his cries ceasing immediately, replaced by a beatific expression.

"And now I think you'll be coming with us." Archimedes turned to Iain, still covered with the Anti-Apparation net. The other two Aurors, one of which Harry saw was Mark Sutton, had their wands trained on him. "I'll need your wand."

Harry watched as Iain put his hand in his jacket pocket, coming out not with his wand, but rather the vaguely man-shaped fetish, handing it to Archimedes. In an almost balletic slow motion, Iain threw off the restricting net, freeing himself to Apparate, and disappeared, reappearing high overhead, in the middle of the swarm of Dementors.

"No!" Harry cried, casting his Patronus at the mass of darkness, but it was too late. Held at bay so long by the blood fetish, the Dementors pounced as soon as the defenseless Iain appeared in their midst, all vying with each other to get to him.

Several other Patronuses joined Harry's, scattering all but one of the Dementors. Cradling its prize, lipless leech-like mouth joined to his, the Dementor Kissed Iain McGinn, sucking out his very soul. Bile rose in Harry's throat as he heard the creature's sigh of satisfaction and saw it simply let go of Iain's still-living body before drifting off.

Archimedes pointed his wand at the falling body, catching it and floating it gently back down to earth. Spread eagle on his back, Iain McGinn looked blankly up at the nighttime sky.


	15. Chapter 15

I stood outside of the guest room door, laden tea tray floating next to me. Taking a deep breath, I knocked softly. "Ben?" I called through the door. "I brought you some breakfast. Can I come in?"

"Okay," Ben finally said after several moments of silence. I opened the door and went into the room, tray floating dutifully behind me.

Ben was bundled up in the bed, curled up on his side with the covers nearly pulled over his head and my heart went out to him. I set the tray down on the end of the bed and sat down next to him, reaching out to push the covers away from his head to rest my hand on top of his short blond hair. "How are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, trying to pull the covers over his head again. "Awful."

"Headache?" I asked, checking his forehead, but didn't feel any extraordinary heat. Sometimes Stunning Spells could have unpredictable effects on Muggles and I wouldn't have been surprised to find a slight fever.

"No," he mumbled, not looking at me.

I sighed, turning to the tray and pouring a cup of coffee, adding cream and sweetener until I had it the way he liked it. "Come on, sit up," I said, poking him in the ribs until he finally obeyed me. I put the coffee mug in his hands and watched as he took an experimental sip. "It's not your fault, all right?"

"How can you even say that? I was the one that took James to Scott or Iain or whatever his name really was," Ben said, miserable blue eyes finally meeting mine. "I just had this voice in my head … telling me what to do."

"It's a curse, love. There wasn't anything you could do."

"I could have stayed away from him. I didn't need to go and talk to him at Jacob's party. I mean … I already knew I didn't have a chance with him, but he was just so … so _nice_!" he said, color flooding his face.

"I know, he fooled all of us," I said, shaking my head. I remembered when I first met him at Jacob's Halloween party, dressed so charmingly in a Han Solo costume and mixing drinks. Our conversation when I was attending Evelyn during her lying-in took on a more sinister cast in retrospect. I realized now that he was fishing for information about us, disguising it as friendly interest.

Still looking miserable, Ben shook his head. "I should have told you what happened at the party. I tried to a few times, but my head would get all weird and foggy."

I took one of his hands in mine and squeezed. "That's what it does. The curse squashes any independent thought that counters the will of the caster. It's one of the Unforgivables for a reason."

Ben squeezed my hand back, lifting my heart a little. "And you couldn't tell anything had been done?"

"No, love, sorry. He was very skilled and careful with the spell. If he'd done something obvious like commanded you to, I don't know, ask a woman out on a date, that would have been a tip-off." Ben smiled briefly at the mention of him dating a woman, something he'd never done in his whole life. "Loads of Death Eaters during both wars claimed they'd been cursed to follow Voldemort and it was very difficult to prove that they hadn't been, so a lot of them just got a free pass."

"Is there any way to not, um, to … resist it?"

"There is. Harry can resist it. My brother. Aurors are trained to, usually."

"Can Harry teach me?" he asked, voice so full of hope that I hated to squash it.

"We can ask, but I've never heard of a Muggle that can resist it," I said as gently as I could, watching as his face fell.

He sighed and withdrew his hand from mine, dabbing at his eyes. I turned to the tray to give him a bit of privacy, pouring a cup of coffee for myself. "So I'm a liability to you and Harry, then," Ben said in a heavy voice.

"No! Never! You're my best friend!" I said, turning back to face him. "Look, when I first came here, I hardly knew what I was doing. You took me under your wing and showed me how to get along."

Ben smiled, obviously remembering my early, awkward fumbles in Muggle medical school. "I thought you were just really sheltered," he said. "I couldn't just leave you as clueless as you were."

"See? You were just what I needed!" I said, hoping to brighten his mood.

"But what if this happens again? I mean, what if there's someone else out there that gets another bright idea because Harry did something they didn't like?" _What if, indeed?_ I thought, keeping quiet, hoping that if I let him voice his fears, he'd settle down. He set down his coffee mug, looking like he'd come to a decision. "I want you to do it."

I frowned, confused at his statement. "Do what?"

"You know," he said, wiggling his nose and waving his hands in that way he had whenever he wanted to indicate magic. "Make me forget."

My stomach curled in on itself at his words and I shook my head. "Forget? Forget what?"

"Forget about magic, about you and Harry and the boys … about what I did," he said, eyes glassy with tears. "All of it."

"No, I can't do that!"

"Then have Harry do it! Please." He grabbed both of my hands and held them tight, his grip almost painful. "Ginny, I'm a liability to your family! A walking, talking way to hurt you. If you make me forget about you, then no one will have any use for me."

"Ben! You're my best friend! I'd never—"

"I'll have someone else do it. I bet Archimedes or Duncan's dad would do it." He looked at me, eyes pleading and my heart felt like it would just break in two. "I don't think I can live with myself, knowing that I put your family in danger," he whispered.

I took out my wand and nodded. "All right."

Ben's eyes went to my wand and he winced. "Will it hurt?"

"No, love. It won't hurt."

"Okay." He stared at me, looking as if he were trying to absorb every nuance of my face. "I love you," he said, kissing me on the cheek.

"You don't have to do this," I said.

"I told you, I can't live with it. Take it all." He sat back against the padded headboard, eyes closed.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the Memory Charm. I'd never had much practice with them, but I'd chatted extensively with Hermione about the one she'd used on her parents. Not only had she made them forget about her, she'd planted false memories of their lives in Australia. I took a deep breath and cast the charm, watching as the spell hit him right between the eyes.

Several seconds went by before his eyes fluttered open and he frowned, looking at me and around the room, shaking his head. "Breakfast in bed?" he said, picking up his coffee cup from the bedside table. "What happened last night? I don't remember a thing after we got back from shopping!"

XXX

Harry was surprised when Ben came down from the guest room behaving like his usual bubbly, chatty self. He shot a glance at Ginny and had gotten her "I'll tell you later," look in response, neatly diverting Teddy when he opened his mouth to ask the same question Harry had.

After breakfast, during which Ben asked if they thought they might see Scott before they went to England for Christmas, Ginny Apparated Ben home to Los Angeles. As soon as they disappeared, Teddy turned to Harry and frowned.

"What was that all about?" he asked, absently petting Stuart.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that Ginny has done a bit of a Memory Charm on him," Harry said, watching as James played quietly with some blocks on the floor. _Surprised he isn't making them float after what he did last night,_ he thought, still amazed at his son's spectacular first show of magic.

"I guess she took the, uh, _thing_ Scott did out, too? How are we going to explain that?"

The memory of Iain's limp body falling through the cold night air rose in his mind's eye and Harry shuddered. "I think we can just say he moved away and leave it at that, yeah?"

"Yeah, all right." Teddy continued to pet the cat, expression troubled before he sighed. "I have to get back to the Academy. See you in a few days for the break, okay?"

Harry nodded, giving a sigh of his own. _That's right. Christmas. Shit._ "Yeah, go do what you need to. Thanks for holding things down last night."

"Erm, yeah. No problem." Teddy pushed the cat off his lap and stood up, brushing the white hairs off of his jeans. "Last night, Ginny told me about a letter?"

"I figured she would have." Teddy stood awkwardly next to the sofa, looking as if he were searching for the right words to say and Harry took pity on him. "It's our last wishes. What we want done in case the worst happens."

"So it's your, um, your will?"

"It's a set of instructions and some verifications. You would have taken it to Ron and he would have verified the authenticity and then the solicitors would have stepped in and handled things from there," Harry said, privately amused as he watched Teddy's eyes get wider and wider.

"Right then. See you." With a wave and a pop, Teddy Apparated out of the lounge, leaving Harry alone with James and a sleeping Allie.

Contemplating his son, Harry got down on the carpet with him, picking up a wooden block. "James, watch Daddy," he said, setting the block to floating in midair. James squealed in delight and reached for it, his loose grasp sending the block spinning away. Curious, Stuart nudged it with his nose and then sat down, licking at his shoulder.

"Can you do that, love? Can you make it float?"

"Float!" James echoed, making another grab at the block. Successful, he immediately jammed it into his mouth, giving Harry his most charming grin. Looking at him, a tidal wave of emotion crashed over Harry, making his nose and eyes sting and he looked away, thoughts of what might have been had Iain succeeded crowding his brain.

 _Would I have done it? Would I have killed my first-born son's body, knowing that there was no hope to make him whole again?_ Harry shivered and pulled James close, squeezing him as tight as he dared.

"Daddy," James chortled, patting him on the cheek as Harry buried his nose in his thick dark hair, breathing hard as he wrestled his emotions back under control. Just then, he heard Allie start to fuss and stood up with James in his arms, grateful for the distraction.

"Let's go see what Allie's on about, yeah?" Harry said, heading up the stairs. While he was up there getting him into a clean nappy, Ginny came home.

"There you are!" she said, happiness clear in her voice.

"Mummy!" James stood up, reaching for her and squealing in laughter when she grabbed his arms and picked him up, giving him raspberry kisses on his cheek.

"You just missed all of the excitement," Harry said as he secured the clean nappy and buttoned up Allie's onesie.

"What? What happened? Is everything all right?" Ginny asked in rapid-fire fashion, coming to stand next to Harry to check Allie for herself.

"Everything's fine, love," Harry said, feeling incredibly stupid for what he thought was a harmless remark. _Will that ever be harmless again?_ "Allie, erm, had a bit of an epic nappy was all. Sorry. I … didn't mean …"

"It's all right, Harry. I need to not jump to conclusions." Ginny took a deep breath and disentangled James's hands from her hair. "Let's see if Allie's hungry, shall we?"

"Hungry!" James echoed, waving his arms around.

"Trade?" Harry asked, holding Allie out to Ginny. "I'll get something for James." He really wanted to ask her about Ben, but he sensed she was still a bit shaken up by everything that had happened. _Feeding Allie always calms her down. We'll chat after._

After setting James up in his high chair with an assortment of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, Harry paced restlessly around the house, checking all of the windows and doors to make sure they were securely latched. He'd redone the Blood Seals on all of the thresholds before Ginny had left to take Ben home. Through it all, Stuart the cat paced along with him, rubbing his cheek on the doorframes as if he could enchant them with his own sort of magic.

Finally, Harry stood in the center of the lounge, mentally cataloging all of the entrances and exits to the house. _I should check the shed in the garden,_ he thought, immediately growing exasperated with himself. _For what? Making sure the brooms haven't gone rogue? That there's not a secret Mandrake setting up house?_ He took a deep breath and shook his head, forcing himself to take a moment and just be.

 _We're all here, we're all safe. No one else is going to jump out at us._ Harry frowned, flipping through the index cards of old cases in his brain. _Right? I'll have to have a chat with Ron away from everyone._ He grinned. _Maybe I can get his fat arse out for a run._

Turning his attention to his son banging on his empty tray, Harry lifted him out, glancing upstairs where Ginny was still with Allie. _Should I check on her?_ he thought, hesitating at the bottom of the stairs. _No, she'll come down when she's ready. And then we'll have a chat._

XXX

I sat in the antique rocking chair, well-fed son sound asleep on my shoulder, just staring off into space. The events of the last twenty-four hours kept replaying themselves. Shopping with Ben, picking out the perfect gift for Teddy to give to Kelly, my son slowly floating up into a cloud of Dementors … Ben's stricken blue eyes as he begged me to make him forget all about us.

I leaned my head back in an attempt to consciously banish the thoughts and feelings of terror and helplessness that had been my constant companions since James had had what we now knew was his first vision. _What did you See? Did you See the Dementors, love? Or did you See something else?_ _I suppose one day you'll be able to tell us._

Turning my mind away from thoughts of James receiving visions of his own doom, I tried to focus on all that needed to be done before leaving for England for Christmas. _A few last things to wrap and then packing … I need to sort out some things at the office. I just know that Aaron is going to make a hash of things while I'm gone…_ Mentally exhausted, I closed my eyes and fell asleep right there in the chair like I haven't done since I was an overwhelmed brand-new mum.

When I opened my eyes again, late-afternoon sunlight slanted into the room, giving Allie's cot a mellow golden glow. I shifted in the seat, trying to relieve the numbness in my bum and the stiffness in my neck. Allie squirmed on my shoulder, mouth opening in a soundless yawn. As I hauled myself up out of the rocker, I realized the house was silent, always unusual after getting used to having Teddy in the house again.

"Well, let's go find Daddy, shall we?" I said to Allie as we headed out of the quiet, golden room and downstairs to find Harry. He was apparently enjoying a bit of a nap himself on the sofa, James sound asleep on his stomach and Stuart curled up at his feet. I looked down at them, hardly daring to think that I could be so lucky to have them both. The memory of Harry last night, standing straight and tall in front of the man bent on destroying my family, his breath frosting in the frigid air as he bargained for our lives with his own made my heart leap into my throat.

I must have made a sound because Harry's eyes snapped open, instantly focusing on me, body tensed and ready to move. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you," I said, knowing that like me, he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before.

"No, it's all right," Harry said, stretching as much as the toddler on his stomach and the cat at his feet would allow. "Hungry?"

"More thirsty. I'll put the kettle on." I went into the kitchen, still holding Allie close as I started the water heating for tea, Stuart on my heels. I busied myself with putting together tea things, delaying the conversation that I knew we had to have.

Harry padded in, followed by a confused-looking James who was still rubbing his eyes. I handed him a biscuit and he looked at it as if he weren't quite sure where it had come from before starting to gnaw on it.

The kettle whistled and I shut it off, pouring the hot water into our favorite mugs. Harry's was emblazoned with the words "Student Tears" and mine had a very disgruntled looking cat on it. It usually made me smile, but I didn't much feel like it today as I sipped my tea, watching my husband over the rim of the mug.

As I knew he would, Harry took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow at me. "Mind telling me about Ben?"

 _Make me forget._ I shook the words out of my head and shrugged. "He asked to be Obliviated." Harry grunted and nodded, clearly not surprised. "He … he asked me to make him forget everything."

"Everything?"

I swallowed, the tea seeming like thick tar in my throat as it tightened. "Everything. Magic, last night, Scott or Iain or whoever he was … us." Harry stared at me and I could almost see his mind working through several different scenarios and I felt a rush of protectiveness for Ben and our friendship. "I couldn't and I'm not going to. I made him forget about everything that happened after we got back from shopping." Still silent, he frowned and a burst of anger bloomed in my chest. "You can't make me. I won't make him forget about me," I said, feeling like I was defying my father, even though Harry had yet to say anything in response.

Anger rushed up in me, hot and pulsing, nearly making my fingertips ache and I set the cup down on the worktop. "Why do I have to be the one to be punished? Why does my friend have to pay the price? He's a Muggle and completely not at fault!" I swiped at my nose, inwardly cursing its tendency to run when I got emotional. "He's only another victim! Maybe I _should_ have made him forget about us so he won't be a target for the next crazy that comes after us because of—" I stopped myself just in time, the remaining rational shred of my brain finally shutting my mouth for me, but I could see that Harry knew what I was going to say anyway.

"Because of me? Because of something I did or someone I brought in while I was an Auror?" Harry said, his stiff posture belying his casual tone.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't need to." Harry sighed and set his mug next to mine, burying his fingers in his dark hair, now threaded with shining silver. "Do you want to leave?"

"What?" I managed to ask, wheezing through the lack of air in my lungs.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Harry leaned back against the sink, looking as if he actually needed the support. "Gin, you never made any bones about not wanting to be with me when I was an Auror. I know you thought it was too dangerous and now it looks like you were right." He glanced at James still gnawing at the soggy biscuit in his fist and back at me. "If you want to take the boys and go, I'll make sure you're safe and have all you need."

My vision had gone all black and grainy at the edges, Allie's weight in my arms suddenly multiplied and I steadied myself with a hand on the granite worktop, the cool stone underneath my hand soothing. "What are you talking about? Take the boys and leave? I don't … why would I do that?"

"I obviously failed to keep our son safe, didn't I?" he said, bitter anguish on his face. I saw his eyelid twitch and stopped myself from handing him a banana, the absurd thought of Harry needing the potassium bubbling to the surface. "It's my fault, isn't it? I didn't see the danger, didn't realize who was under my nose until it was almost too fucking late!"

"Harry, you can't expect—"

"What can I expect, then? Can I expect someone else to jump out at us and snatch Allie or you? Or James again? What about someone commanding a Muggle to smash me or you with a car all because I put their dad or mum or sister's cousin's brother-in-law away?" He turned away from me, leaning forward over the sink, breath coming hard and fast. Worried he was about to hyperventilate, I crossed the empty space between us and put my hand on his heaving back. "I should have asked them for mercy," I heard him whisper before I put my free arm around him and squeezed as tight as I could.

Eyes stinging, nose running, I held on to my husband as we both had minor meltdowns in the middle of our kitchen, Stuart anxiously rubbing against our legs. "Mum," James whined, tugging at my jeans. I looked down at his little worried face and picked him up after handing Allie to Harry, burying my nose in his hair and taking great gulps of his sea-tinged scent.

I laid my head against Harry's chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart, the sound of it grounding me in reality. "I'm not leaving," I whispered. "We're in this together, all right? Whatever happens."

"I don't want you to go," he said, breath tickling the hair at the top of my head. "But if you want to, I won't stop you."

I drew back, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you saying that you wouldn't fight for me?" A small thread of amusement wound through me as Harry's mouth dropped open, making him look a bit like a surprised fish.

"Erm—"

"I can't believe what I just heard." I eeled out of his grasp, still holding James on my hip and picked up my mug of tepid tea, managing to not make a face at the taste. "Maybe I should go after all. I hear West Hollywood is nice this time of year."

The corner of Harry's mouth quirked up in the beginnings of a smile at the mention of West Hollywood and he picked up his mug, crossing one leg in front of the other while balancing Allie on his shoulder. "Oh yeah? You'd leave me to shack up with a gay man? To live in sin, as the kids say?"

"Well, he doesn't leave a trail of clothes from the bedroom to the shower," I said, heart soaring as he gave a real grin and took two steps towards us, hugging us as well as he could with a baby on his shoulder.

"But I'm the better cook," he said.

"You are," I agreed, laying my hand on his stubbly cheek. "And Ben's terrible at changing nappies. One blowout from James and he'd send us back where we came from." Sweeping my thumb over his cheekbone, I pulled him down for a lingering kiss.

"I'd never make you Obliviate Ben," he said, voice rough.

"I know you wouldn't, but … would he be safer?"

Harry let out a long sigh. "I don't know, love. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens next."

"Together," I said, no hint of a question in my voice.

"Together," Harry agreed.

XXX

Unnoticed, the coyote watched the family approach him on their way to the San Francisco Portkey office. "Harry, did you remember the basket for Dudley's family?" the redheaded woman asked, bringing the double push chair to a brief stop.

"Yes, he did Ginny. I saw him put it in," the sandy-haired boy said earnestly and the coyote grinned, whiskers twitching in amusement. He sneezed when the woman passed him, her magic barely making his fur ripple. _Impressive. I knew she'd be a fast learner._

"Let me know if you think of anything else I've forgotten," the dark-haired man said, using magic to pull a string of rolling bags behind him like a line of ducklings.

The family passed by and the coyote stood, shaking himself all over before trotting a few paces behind them, coming to a stop when they reached the Portkey office. "All right. Let's think a minute," the woman said, counting things off on her fingers. "Mum, Dad, George, Angelina, Fred, Roxanne, Hermione, Ron, Hugo, Rose …" she said, naming an impressive multitude of family members.

The coyote tuned her out, taking the opportunity to stick his nose into the pocket of the toddler in one side of the push chair, reassured at the feeling of the smooth quartz rock against his nose. The boy giggled and patted him gently on the head. "Doggie," he burbled.

"Ginny, we have everything! We're going to miss our Portkey!" the young man groaned impatiently.

"Fine, but if something got left behind, you're the one coming back to get it." A moment later, the five of them disappeared into the cavernous Portkey office. The coyote sat on the pavement, brushy tail wrapped around his compact feet. A moment later, he was joined by an enormous bird, flattening his ears against the booming sound that heralded his arrival.

"Can't you birds do anything quietly?" the coyote said as the thunderbird favored Him with a haughty glare.

"I will be quiet when You manage to keep Your nose out of mischief, Trickster."

"I kept My nose well out, didn't I?" Coyote said, rising to His own defense.

"Only because You couldn't interfere this time." Niyol looked at the busy entrance of the building. "They have challenges ahead and it doesn't do to show too much concern about the affairs of mortals."

Coyote bristled at the young thunderbird's superior tone. "You presume to tell Me My business, whelp?"

Niyol fixed Coyote with an unblinking golden eye, bronze beak shining in the winter sunlight. "You know the rules as well as I do." He preened the feathers on his chest with that wickedly sharp beak. "The rules are there because of You."

Coyote sniffed and looked away, feigning disinterest in the conversation. "I'll train the Seer."

"And that will be all You do, when it's time."

"When it's time." Coyote nodded to Niyol who seemed satisfied in His agreement and took to the air, nearly toppling Him over with a blast of air. _And I'll decide the time and how long it takes,_ He thought, keen eyes watching as the bird disappeared into the blue sky.


End file.
